Racing to save Planet Earth?
In an unprecedented move, the Honda F1 racing team have decided to replace the usual jumble of corporate sponsor logos, and decorate their cars with a large image of Planet Earth for the 2007 season. Lovely.
According to the blurb it's a bid to "raise awareness of the environmental issues facing the planet" and "a powerful call to action for fans, sponsors, customers and members of the public to join Honda’s commitment to help address the environmental issues facing the world".
Well that's just terrific. I've no doubt that it will look very dramatic on the racetrack, and people around the globe will sit up and take notice, but in the face of Honda sales stats like this, charts like this
and an almost complete absence of publicly-available information suggesting that Honda are actually doing anything significant to reduce global carbon emissions, you have to wonder whether it's just another "Aren't We Different?" marketing ploy.
Wouldn't pulling out of the whole Formula 1 circus and reinvesting all that R&D cash into protecting the Amazon basin (or something) have been a more compelling statement? Or is that ridiculously unrealistic?
According to the blurb it's a bid to "raise awareness of the environmental issues facing the planet" and "a powerful call to action for fans, sponsors, customers and members of the public to join Honda’s commitment to help address the environmental issues facing the world".
Well that's just terrific. I've no doubt that it will look very dramatic on the racetrack, and people around the globe will sit up and take notice, but in the face of Honda sales stats like this, charts like this
and an almost complete absence of publicly-available information suggesting that Honda are actually doing anything significant to reduce global carbon emissions, you have to wonder whether it's just another "Aren't We Different?" marketing ploy.
Wouldn't pulling out of the whole Formula 1 circus and reinvesting all that R&D cash into protecting the Amazon basin (or something) have been a more compelling statement? Or is that ridiculously unrealistic?
