Annals Of Stupid Corporate PR Tricks

The adjective applies.

This morning, Ford's chief executive officer, Alan Mulally, arrived on Capitol Hill driving a new Ford Fusion Hybrid.

The press knew this was going to happen because Ford's PR machine sent word to daybook editors yesterday.

One could forgive the company for this photo-op; after all, Detroit is very anxious to prove that it gets why people are so frustrated, and it gets why fuel efficient cars are its future. And the Ford Fusion is a pretty good car. If the company's ethos is changing, then maybe the photo op is even intellectually honest.

No one expects Mulally to drive from Detroit (or Seattle, where he lives) to Washington in a hybrid. Heck, we don't expect him to fly to DC in coach class; that would be sanctimonious and cheap. He's still a CEO....

But you've got to wonder whether anyone in Mulally's inner circle was thinking through the consequences of allowing the CEO to travel to Washington on the company's own private jet  as they're seeking a bailout  -- the failure or success of which depends on the automakers winning a public relations battle.... within which the company has to prove that (a) it really is running out of cash (b) its management is cutting back on expenses and (c) management gets it.