Have you seen Ford's latest commercial? The one that features CEO Bill Ford and farmer and a corn field. Because obviously, if we see farmers harvesting corn in an ad it must mean it's a product that is good for the environment. (And by the way, the farmer is hoisting a bushel basket of corn into the back of his truck - do you seriously think farmers pick their corn by hand, put it in a basket and then load it in their truck to drive 'into town' to sell for use in ethanol???) The commercial is all about Ford's ethanol and hybrid vehicles, and how "green" Ford Motor Company is - which is great. I am all for alternative fuels and doing what we can to break our dependence on foreign oil. But Bill, do you seriously expect me to believe that Ford is "leading the way" to develop alternatives??? Ford??? The same company that created the marketing plan that began the SUV craze and sold more gas-guzzling Explorers, Expeditions and Excursions in the 90s than Beanie Babies?
You know, I'm not the most environmentally friendly person in the world. I had an Explorer, I loved it. I drove a gas guzzling sports car when I was a teenager, I loved it too. I've had plenty of cars that have not been environmentally-friendly. And I sure used more than my fair share of aerosol hairspray full of chloroflurocarbons in the 80s to have my own corner of the hole in the ozone layer named after me. But I'm not the one standing in my front yard yelling to all the world that I'm leading the way in ending pollution, and the country's dependence on foreign oil!
This comes just months after a bunch of environmental groups publically criticized Ford for renegging on their own pledge made just nine months ago to build 250,000 hybrid-fueled vehicles by 2010. Interesting that this commercial starts airing just as gas prices have started rising again and everybody's talking about it. "While we can't control the price of fuel, we're innovating to reduce the need," Bill tells us. Oh really, Bill? Are you? How exactly does that fit in with the fact that Ford, like GM, has long raked in the bulk of it's North Amercian profits by selling large pickup trucks and SUVs, many of which carry very poor fuel-economy numbers? Or the fact that Ford's product portfolio remains among the worst-performers of the large players in the industry when it comes to average fuel economy? (John D. Stoll, Dow Jones Newswires)
Bill, isn't it just a tad hypocritical of your company - that wastes more oil and has the worst fuel economy numbers of any major American auto maker - to run ads like this?
I hope you're serious about Ford's dedication to be more green. I hope you really are going to make a difference. However, I really wish you'd be more honest about it and have a little more respect for the American public. Do you really think that showing me a commercial with farmers and corn in it that I'm going to believe the load of crap you're trying to get me to buy into? I'd have a lot more respect and a lot more interest in listening to you if you were more honest. Tell us that Ford has had a change of heart, that you recognize this company has been a part of the problem but you're ready to be a part of the solution. Don't put together a slick marketing game-plan and try to tell me it's raining while you piss on my shoes.
You know, I was impressed with you at one point, Mr. Ford. I read the Time magazine article about you back shortly after you became CEO of Ford. I was impressed. I heard what you had said before becoming CEO about your support of the environment. I thought it would be really interesting to see one of the "Big Three" headed by a vegetarian, guitar-strumming black belt in tae kwon do. Turns out maybe you're just another short-sighted auto executive with no real interest in the environment, our oil dependence or - most importantly - the truth.
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