That happens when a brand is about one person. Musk made Tesla all about himSelf. In a way he was the product - you could buy his cool car. Be a part of the company with that cool weird funny CEO. He posts memes just like you!!! Loom at his funny flamethrower! How random! Hahaha! He would also lie about so many features that nobody could actually believe it was a lie (full self driving next year™, battery range etc). So they still went ahead and bought it - and had a lot of sunken cost associated to his cool image.

But oh no! It turns out the guy is actually an asshole, a racist, likes nazis, is an delusional and unpredictable drug addict, not that smart, born with money from aparthheit-enabled-exploitation - who could’ve known!?!?

now people don’t like him, so they stop buying his product.