The Bizarre Tale of the Orange Teslas, Which (Spoiler) Aren't Cars

An “orange Tesla” isn’t a Model X with a spicy paint job. It’s an ecstasy pill.
Written by Alex Reale
Reviewed by Kathleen Flear
Tesla
is known for many things, but off-the-wall paint doesn’t make the list. The color on your Model X looks nice, but unless you went to great lengths, chances are it is of the primary variety. 
So what are people talking about when they reference orange Teslas? Are they getting paint updates before the rest of us?
It turns out that orange Teslas can’t be found at your local dealership. Try your local dealer instead: “orange Teslas” are ecstasy pills that have been dipped in orange and stamped with the Tesla logo.

MDMA: a marvel of German engineering

Ecstasy is the street name for the drug 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, or MDMA. A drug of choice for the all-night revelers among us, this synthetic pill was developed in 1912 by a German pharmaceutical company. 
It was originally intended to be used for controlling bleeding, but as the decades passed its psychological effects could not be ignored.
During the 1970s and '80s, says NIDA, some intrepid psychiatrists began trying MDMA on their patients in limited amounts to see if it proved helpful to their well-being. 
Results were mixed, but it was clear that the immediate effect of the drug was “intoxicating”—users were filled with warmth and empathy, and enjoyed a stronger sense of perception. 
MDMA, that easily abused purveyor of thrills, was banned by the FDA in 1985 as a Schedule 1 substance. Dealers on the black market rejoiced: “ecstasy” gave its users a happy high, and who wouldn’t want to buy that? An illegal street drug was born and continues to thrive.
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Even ecstasy needs great branding

As ecstasy proliferated, musical festival attendees and good timers of all stripes were suddenly confronted with a glut of options. How to choose among the pills? 
Dealers didn’t reinvent the wheel—they employed some tried-and-true clout-borrowing strategy. They took the logos of existing successful brands, loaded them into their pill-stamping machines, and churned out hundreds of what hopefully wouldn’t be mistaken for M&Ms.
Your average ecstasy seeker would get to choose between pills that sport some of their favorite car, shoe, and clothing brands. A government page that was archived in 2006 notes that MDMA pill makers of that era were fond of Mitsubishi, Nike, and Mercedes. 
Just like any other ad campaign, you want to go with what’s “popular at the time,” says
Daily Dot
, so these three brands were wise choices for the aughts.
MDMA entrepreneurs of the current era have wisely moved on from Mitsubishi and are crowning a different prom queen: Tesla. 
“Orange Teslas” are shaped like the Tesla logo… have “TESLA” written on them, and occasionally shimmer with purple sparkle. As enticing as this sounds, this blatant attempt to shroud the product in legitimacy should not be trusted, says NE Addictions.
You might have a great time at that concert, or you might be hospitalized, as were several students in North Yorkshire in 2018, says the
BBC
Either way: these were not manufactured in a Tesla factory, and as far as we know are not endorsed by Elon Musk.
MORE: A Tesla Model Y Cybertruck, What?

Does Tesla even care about orange Teslas?

Tesla has not publicly commented on the use of its logo and brand on MDMA pills, but it’s a tricky thing, being associated with MDMA. On the one hand, your “corporate IP is being stolen and appropriated on perhaps the most controversial product there is,” says Johnboy Davidson of Pill Reports in
Forbes
On the other, “all PR is good PR” is a cliché for a reason, so perhaps Tesla is wise to keep mum.
So the orange Teslas live on, unencumbered by lawsuits. One thing is for sure: the day that Tesla releases an orange paint option for any of its models, the memes will be outrageous. 
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