The latest commercial touting the services of locally based GE Capital to small businesses and consumers shows an all-terrain vehicle racing over a series of pristine desert sand dunes.
I hate it, especially when the GE Cap exec being treated to a thrill ride by the Polaris exec gets off the four-wheeler and whoops it up like he’s just won Powerball.
Some might understandably see this as being about polluting the atmosphere, unnecessarily burning gasoline, making unconscionable noise in the wilderness and scarring a beautiful landscape, all for a few yucks and profit.
Now don’t get me wrong, GE Capital finances a lot of necessary and wonderful things, from refrigerators to keep your food warm to — as it announced this week — musical instrument purchases to add some beauty to our lives.
And all-terrain-vehicles are indispensable tools for such things as wilderness and wildlife management, fighting forest fires, search and rescue and many economically driven activities off the beaten path.
But for the company that has been touting its “ecomagination” to stink up the desert for a joyride commercial is a little unseemly — and irresponsible.
GE, you’re better than this.
