No, I didn’t just make that up myself. Some supreme dufus driving this afternoon through Seattle’s Capitol Hill in his red Ford F150 truck had the misfortune of sitting at a stoplight ahead of me. Obviously, he (for it had to be a “he” who would think the following slogan funny) thought he had a sense of humor. But I’ll let you be the judge. The bumper sticker pictured an oil well gusher and this slogan:
This vehicle proudly supports war and environmental degradation.
I just thought I’d check out the vehicle model’s environemtnal record. If you check out the Ford link above you curiously won’t find any mileage information about the F150. You’d have to go to an independent site like FuelEconomy.gov to find that this vehicle gets 12 mpg. In terms of annual greenhouse gas emissions rated from 3 (best) to 15 (worst) it rates an 11, which speaks for itself. On the EPA’s air pollution score where 0 is worst and 10 is best, it rates a 2.
I remember way back in the deep dim past of three years ago or so Henry Clay Ford announcing a Ford environmental initiative by which he promised to improve his fleet’s fuel economy by 25% within a few years time. Of course, he’d renounced his pledge within a year or so. And the F150 is one of the reasons he had to. It’s a big money maker, but a real drag on a company’s environmental record. You can’t make a vehicle like this and say you’re an environmental steward–at least not with a straight face.
That’s why I admired, in a twisted sort of way, the naked, disgusting honesty of that bumper sticker slogan. The driver revealed himself in his true colors. What’s twisted about it is that he somehow thought his candidness was funny.
Ford, are you listening?? I bet you think it’s funny, don’t you.
What can I say. I have been depressed about the fate of humanity lately. I really don’t think we’re capable of saving ourselves. Free Will? I don’t know. I know I can’t even stop driving my kid to school (it’s not too far to walk, but it’s kind of far, and he complains about it, and there’s usually a good reason why we “have” to drive, etc.)
Meanwhile we have our lives, brief as they are, and we need to enjoy each moment. Those children we’ve got, for instance….we’re all just candle flames.
I guess people like to think their car projects an image of themselves (coming from a guy who drives a dented up 1999 Toyota Camry…). But I’ve always wondered about the guys who drive giant pickup trucks who have jobs like accountants or computer network administrator who have probably never hauled anything that wouldn’t have fit in, well the trunk or backseat of, say a 1999 dented up Toyota Camry…
My brother and brother-in-law are both contractors and carpenters who need a pickup truck – they drive basic units that “Get the job done”…
The other thing I’m always amazed about are people who schlep their kids in those. (Especially the “luxury” version) Being classified as trucks, the safety regulations are much lower. My brother drives his family in a Volvo…
And to add insult to injury, here in Texas the F-150 is the vehicle most likely to be seen occupying the “compact car only” parking spaces at the supermarket.
Perversely, this page’s google ads have a bunch of F-150 links, I suppose because of how google parses content for the ads.
I can’t begin to tell you how dumb the Google technology is that serves up the ads. I don’t know why it can’t tell when you’re praising or trashing a product. For example, on this post it would make much more sense to have a green ad, than a Ford ad. I guess until the Fords of the world who pay for these Google ads complain enough, Google will continue just muddling through.
you people are brainwashed idiots . 30 years ago they were claiming gobal cooling and I bet you fell for that one too!
Spoken like a true F150 owner.