Indian Motorcycle Launches Attack Ad On Harley-Davidson. All But Confirms Right-Wing PR Campaign Reporting

Indian's new political-style attack campaign basically confirms our prior reporting on who's building it.

Photo by: Indian Motorcycle

By: Jonathon Klein

Jun 8, at 3:01pm ET

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Indian Motorcycle just launched a political-style attack ad campaign against its main rival, Harley-Davidson, and it is a move that boggles the mind. The campaign comes on the heels of right-wing influencers around the internet posting about how Harley had "gone woke and gay," in recent days, while simultaneously, but definitely not in a coordinated way, promoting Indian.

Many, including RideApart, saw the move that was sweeping that corner of the internet and believed that the whole thing felt as if it was absolutely something someone had put together, a ploy that pulled from other political playbooks utilized in recent years.

Then it was discovered that Indian Motorcycle's new private equity owners, Carolwood LP, had obtained the services of Noise Media out of the UK. It's a firm that had, itself, obtained the services of Brad Parscale, who was U.S. President Donald J. Trump's former campaign manager, as well as Parscale's press relations businesses.

What's more, Parscale's businesses have engaged in this type of social media influencer campaigns before, so the math started adding up. But when we reached out for comment, both Indian Motorcycles and Noise Media remained mum on the subject, neither returning our multiple inquiries into whether or not this attack-then-shill strategy had come from either company, or who it was approved by, or what it entailed.

Yet, the brand's latest social media campaign, just a day after RideApart's previous reporting, appears to be one that replicates an October-in-an-election-year political attack campaign, as our own Justin Coffey put it. It also basically confirms not only who's running Indian's marketing efforts these days, but also Indian's approval of this marketing strategy.

I don't see this playing out well for Indian in the long run.

The latest post, titled "The culture is not confused. Neither are we," starts with a salvo aimed straight at Harley-Davidson's masts, stating that the company hired a guy from "a pizza company," referencing Harley's new CEO, Artie Starrs, who ran Pizza Hut for a while. It then draws an immediate contrast to its own new CEO in stating that, "Indian chose a lifelong industry veteran and avid motorcycle rider," i.e., Mike Kennedy. Also, all of this is narrated in that political attack ad voiceover voice that you've likely already heard a trillion times in your life.

It's dark, it's ominous, and it's so cliché at this point that it has to only work on idiots.

It's also par for the course with Parscale's previous line of work, as well as his current occupation, which also includes coordinating influencer campaigns on behalf of the Israeli government in an attempt to sway public opinion on three things: The state, its military relationship with the U.S., and its continued genocide of the Palestinians.

Moreover, it also fails to state that Mike Kennedy, Indian's CEO, used to work for Harley-Davidson for literal decades. And was actually working at Harley-Davidson when Jochen Zeitz, the Motor Co.'s former CEO, whom many laid blame on for the brand's woes, was also working for the MoCo as a board member. At that time, current Indian Motorcycle CEO Kennedy was an executive at Harley-Davidson, with the official title of Vice President and Managing Director for the Americas. And that specific detail plays into the next few portions of the attack ad.

"[Harley-Davidson] chased electric bikes and moved production to Thailand. We build PowerPlus engines and American bikes right here in Spirit Lake, Iowa," the ad goes on to state. It's safe to say that Kennedy would've likely been a part of those decisions in his executive capacity at Harley-Davidson.

However, more importantly, this new Indian Motorcycle ad pretends that all Harleys are made overseas, when in reality, it's just two lines. But facts are myths and myths are facts these days. It's also worth noting that Indian Motorcycle, under its previous Polaris ownership, had been assembling both the FTR and Scout lineup at its factory in Poland since 2020. Though the FTR is dead, the Scout remains in the lineup, and it's unclear whether or not assembly remains there.

Anyway, here's where things really go off the rails.

"They chased political trends," the ad states with artwork talking about DEI initiatives and a picture of the Capitol in Washington, D.C., "We backed the people who matter," with police "Back the Blue" symbols, what appear to be a group of veterans, and a bunch of bagger riders. So Harley is "Woke and gay," while Indian represents "real Americans," to borrow a line from the influencer campaign.

But again, we need to talk about the elephant in the room, which is that Indian Motorcycle also had a DEI program, and neither its nor Harley's was actually any good or really did anything. Both were lip service, nothing more. And both companies took down their respective programs after kowtowing to Robby Starbuck, a right-wing, terminally online influencer who ramped up grievance politics toward the brands a year and a half ago.

The ad goes on to state that Indian is the only American brand for true motorcycle riders, that's built by American riders, and so on and so on. It's all very jingoistic and politically coded. It wouldn't look out of place had you swapped Indian's Mike Kennedy for Donald Trump and Harley-Davidson's Artie Starrs for Joe Biden. I'm surprised Indian didn't go so far as to give Starrs a little nickname, as the current U.S. President is wont to do.

And given the ad's presence, both as just a thing that exists, and also as one officially posted on Indian Motorcycle's own social channels, it all but confirms RideApart's previous reporting on who's running the brand's social media, as well as where they intend to take the brand's marketing.

Rather than rely on the brand's legitimately good motorcycles, ones that are, on paper, better than Harley-Davidson's, as well as relying on Harley's own self-inflicted misfortunes, Indian's brass and marketing company instead want to attack its main rival. They prefer to go out and push smear campaigns. They want to go low, as that's what Noise Media, Brad Parscale's Clocktower X and Salem Media Group, and Carolwood LP know how to do. And it's apparently what Indian's own CEO Mike Kennedy wants, as he's the star of the show.

What do you think?

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I suspect it will fail, and I honestly hope it backfires in the company's face. This kind of attack is not only disingenuous, but it also does nothing to move the industry forward. Honestly, it just makes everything worse for everyone involved and will likely tarnish the brand's long-term reputation. Just as likely, it makes all the PR firms involved a whole lot of money at the expense Indian's employees, as they'll suffer for these decisions when they inevitably backfire. But you'd best believe that the private equity brass won't face any consequences whatsoever.

Once again, I reached out to Indian Motorcycle, Carolwood LP, Noise Media, and Brad Parscale about the recent ad campaign; none of them responded by the time of publication. I will update this piece if they do respond.