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Mark Ragan
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30
Ask a man on the street which company he despises most and he won’t mention a weapons manufacturer, human rights abuser, reckless mortgage lender or even Wal-Mart.
He will probably say Exxon Mobil.
On Thursday, the oil company posted the biggest quarterly profit in US history as the American economy showed measurable signs of recession. Gross Domestic Product shrank and more companies announced layoffs. And let’s not forget it cost a week’s paycheck to fill most gas tanks last summer.
“Shameless greed,” consultant Laura Fitton wrote on Twitter. “Exxon Mobil made its highest profits ever? Nice. Especially as inflated energy prices disproportionately screw the poor.”
Is Exxon Mobil greedy? Of course it is. Exxon Mobil is a for profit company. And just like your (for profit) company, Exxon Mobil wants to earn as much money as possible.
Of course, certain executives and large shareholders are getting incredibly rich. But does anyone expect some brave (or stupid) executive to suggest the C-suite take pay cuts one quarter so people in middle America can save a few cents on their gasoline? Ha!
If those execs are sweating the public scorn then they’ll probably just cool off in their pools filled with gold coins.
I’ve never spoken with a corporate communicator at Exxon Mobil, so I can’t say what the job is like there. But I can imagine that, beyond the gold plated toilets, it’s a challenge.
Morale should be up among your employees, yet so many people despise you for doing well. How do you reconcile those competing interests? Meanwhile, PR pros are charged with going before an angry public to explain that—pop the bubbly!—despite a shrinking economy we’re doing great!
Here’s my advice, and it applies internally and externally. Declare that it’s not un-American to earn record profits. Then explain that if profits stagnated then Exxon Mobil would lay off employees, and the shareholders, many of whom are wage earners, would see their investments take a hit. What good does that do the economy?
And if you don’t like it, drive less.
-By Michael Sebastian, Ragan staff writer
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