CSR Speak - Ford Motor Co.,

Reading between the lines of the corporate PR machine...Ford Motor Co, one of the world's largest car manufacturers, says:

"We will respect the natural environment and help preserve it for future generations. Sustainability is a business imperative."

From the Ford Sustainability Report, 2005/6

The campaigners say:

Ford launched a new advertising campaign "the greening of the blue oval," supposedly to champion the company's 'eco' reputation, with the fuel efficient Ford Escape Hybrid SUV as its centrepiece. However, the US Environmental Protection Agency has noted that Ford Motor Company had the worst fleetwide fuel economy ratings compared to other automakers for the fifth year running. Ford itself predicted that the Escape Hybrid would make up only 0.5% of its total sales. Since the advertising budget was so disproportionate to the expected sales of the model, and since the Escape Hybrid would only achieve 2 miles to the gallon better highway mileage than the conventional Escape, the company was accused of indulging in a clear-cut case of 'greenwashing'.

Los Angeles Times, 22 August 2004

Ford Motor Co was listed as the seventh ranking corporate air polluter in the US in a May 2006 report by the US Political Economy Research Institute (PERI). According to the director of PERI's environment programme, the report measured "not just how many pounds of pollutants are released, but which are the most toxic and how many people are at risk."

Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts, May 2006 (using 2002 data).

This brief article appeared in the Ethical Consumer magazine, November/December 2006.

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