The Streisand Effect and how Elon Musk used it to gain Millions in free advertising.

The Streisand effect derives its name from an incident involving singer and actor Barbara Streisand. In 2003, she sued 2 photographers for $50 million lawsuit. Her house was photographed to document coastal erosion but she didn't want anyone to see the house. Their images were circulated a lot more widely as a result of the legal proceedings and publicity.

In 2014, Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk were facing potential legal action from Ford that threatened to disrupt the launch of the Model 3 electric vehicle.

However, Musk leveraged the situation to amplify brand awareness for Tesla in a massive marketing coup. Musk's strategy capitalized on the Streisand effect where attempting to suppress information instead fuels further publicity and discussion.

Musk had already introduced the successful Model S sedan and the Model X SUV was in development. For Tesla's third vehicle, he proposed naming it Model E, forming the lineup S-E-X. But Ford held a trademark on the ‘Model E’ name.

When Ford threatened to take legal action against the use of ‘Model E’, Musk turned the situation to his advantage through provocative statements like "Ford is trying to kill SEX". These headlines generated tremendous free publicity and brand awareness for Tesla. The new vehicle was eventually named Model 3 instead: S-3-X.

Other examples of the Streisand Effect, where censorship attempts backfired include the movie ‘The Interview’ that experienced sales of $40 million in digital downloads after North Korea attempted to censor it.

In 2014 thousands of cab drivers across Europe took to the streets to protest against Uber. The cab drivers blocked roads and shut down traffic. The result? Massive publicity for Uber with an 850% increase in downloads for the Uber app across Europe!