So, despite my previous cynicism, Exxon Mobil makes me crack a smile with at least one or two company initiatives they’ve got going.
Disclaimer: Yes, I am a male. Chadwick Mendelson III, thank you. But I am all for equality, so-REAL MEN AREN’T AFRAID OF EQUALITY BETWEEN THE SEXES. (wink, wink.)
Anyhow. Like I stated earlier, Exxon Mobil is often criticized for less-than-ethical/flawless business practices. But if you were that company’s public relations person, you’d know you’d go into the office everyday, coffee in hand, trembling about how to make people not hate you and the company you diligently work for. Heck, I would!
Well, I will say it here, loud and proud. Exxon Mobil Public Affairs/Relations has a lot of great things going on. Whether the “average Joe” knows about all of the Exxon Mobil initiatives, we cannot be certain. I know I don’t spend my day pondering “Hmm..how is Exxon Mobil going to save the world one Alaskan seal at a time? Or what poundage does Exxon Mobil say I should inflate my tires to in order to get more miles out of every gas fill-up? (Please see the Web site homepage for a banner explaining this do-good initiative: http://www.exxonmobil.com/.) Or maybe, when I have kids, I’m going to make my daughter study science and math so she can get an engineering job with Exxon Mobil!” By the way, all of the above initiatives can be found on the company Web site (in more or less…definitely more, detail).
This brings me to my point: Exxon Mobil’s PR people have been working hard. I am thoroughly impressed by the “feel-good” programs and campaigns the gigantic corporation has going on, specifically in educating the public about positive actions, responsible energy use and the education of young women both in the United States and abroad (I will speak for my sister…she panics at the sheer thought of science and got a D in her basic college algebra class. She unfortunately fits the (often exaggerated) statistic that females across the world are either failing miserably in science and mathematics or just don’t acknowledge the subjects at all: take a peek at this University of Rhode Island Web press release http://www.uri.edu/news/releases/?id=2972. It has some very interesting and relevant points on female education and continuance of math and science.)
As delighted as I would be to discuss all of Exxon Mobil’s energy-saving, Earth preserving tendencies, the math and science education/women’s education advocacy hits a nerve with me. So I will focus this entry on those topics.
Education and Girls Initiative: http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/community_ed_women.aspx
Exxon Mobil has taken the initiative to invest money in educational programs in poverty-laden, women-hating, or disease-stricken, developing countries such as Angola, Chad, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria as well as in Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia in order to educate young girls and women.
Disclaimer: Yes, I am a male. Chadwick Mendelson III, thank you. But I am all for equality, so-REAL MEN AREN’T AFRAID OF EQUALITY BETWEEN THE SEXES. (wink, wink.)
Anyhow. Like I stated earlier, Exxon Mobil is often criticized for less-than-ethical/flawless business practices. But if you were that company’s public relations person, you’d know you’d go into the office everyday, coffee in hand, trembling about how to make people not hate you and the company you diligently work for. Heck, I would!
Well, I will say it here, loud and proud. Exxon Mobil Public Affairs/Relations has a lot of great things going on. Whether the “average Joe” knows about all of the Exxon Mobil initiatives, we cannot be certain. I know I don’t spend my day pondering “Hmm..how is Exxon Mobil going to save the world one Alaskan seal at a time? Or what poundage does Exxon Mobil say I should inflate my tires to in order to get more miles out of every gas fill-up? (Please see the Web site homepage for a banner explaining this do-good initiative: http://www.exxonmobil.com/.) Or maybe, when I have kids, I’m going to make my daughter study science and math so she can get an engineering job with Exxon Mobil!” By the way, all of the above initiatives can be found on the company Web site (in more or less…definitely more, detail).
This brings me to my point: Exxon Mobil’s PR people have been working hard. I am thoroughly impressed by the “feel-good” programs and campaigns the gigantic corporation has going on, specifically in educating the public about positive actions, responsible energy use and the education of young women both in the United States and abroad (I will speak for my sister…she panics at the sheer thought of science and got a D in her basic college algebra class. She unfortunately fits the (often exaggerated) statistic that females across the world are either failing miserably in science and mathematics or just don’t acknowledge the subjects at all: take a peek at this University of Rhode Island Web press release http://www.uri.edu/news/releases/?id=2972. It has some very interesting and relevant points on female education and continuance of math and science.)
As delighted as I would be to discuss all of Exxon Mobil’s energy-saving, Earth preserving tendencies, the math and science education/women’s education advocacy hits a nerve with me. So I will focus this entry on those topics.
Education and Girls Initiative: http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/community_ed_women.aspx
Exxon Mobil has taken the initiative to invest money in educational programs in poverty-laden, women-hating, or disease-stricken, developing countries such as Angola, Chad, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria as well as in Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia in order to educate young girls and women.
“Research confirms that programs directed toward educating women and girls yield higher rates of return than any other community investment available in the developing world. Educated women are healthier and are less likely to die in childbirth than women with little or no schooling. The children of educated mothers are more likely to survive, to go to school and to be healthier because of better nutrition and immunization rates.” – Exxon Mobil (see link above.)
Exxon Mobil recognizes a current movement in our societal values today and has pounced on the opportunity to make a positive name for itself both in America (“Yay! Education is key! Girls rule!”) and across the globe (“Exxon Mobil? Gasoline? Ah…yes. We like them. They are powerful!”).
The Educating Women and Girls Initiative was launched in 2005 and as of 2006, the company invested $2.8 million into the program. Nothing talks like money! Ok…check the cynicism…they are actually helping people. Exxon Mobil has funded projects to construct and rehabilitate schools, provide teacher training, literacy training, entrepreneurial training…and the list goes on. Let me applaud Exxon Mobil for taking on such a noble initiative. And let me applaud the Exxon Mobil PR people for getting the word out through the Web site’s news releases/newsroom postings.
http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/news_features_20070901_womenandgirls.aspx
http://www.exxonmobil.co.uk/Corporate/news_speeches_20070118_RAL.aspx
http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/Files/Corporate/Oped_passport_to_progress.pdf
Science and Math Education Initiative:
Secondly, Exxon Mobil gets extra bonus points for supporting a good cause while helping themselves out at the same time. The company’s support for math and science education is a great cause as it seems this world is lacking talented people in those fields: "we and our nation face a critical shortage of highly skilled professionals in math and science to fill current needs." – states InfoWorld (http://weblog.infoworld.com/realitycheck/archives/2007/09/12_governors_ca.html).
The company’s main focus is technology and proficiency in math and science is imperative in the energy business. “We believe it is fundamentally important to encourage new generations to pursue studies and careers in fields involving math and science.” - http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/community_ed.aspx (Please see for additional information.) Not only has Exxon Mobil taken a stand to promote education, it has created and promoted numerous, specific initiatives under the education umbrella: the need to improve math and science education, the National Math and Science Initiative, the Mickelson Exxon Mobil Teachers Academy, Bernard Harris Summer Science Camps (Oh my gosh, sign me up! I loved science camp.), and my favorite, the Society of Women Engineers which directs outreach programs to attract young women to the fields of engineering. It’s a wonder how they do all of this and someone is still there to give me my credit card receipt when I fill my tank up! Just kidding, I don’t get gas at Exxon stations.
Oh, and have you missed New Media lately? Here you go: http://www.exxonmobil.co.uk/Corporate/news_downloads_video_math.aspx. Just a little flash video on the Web site about math and science education. It’s fantastic.
So why all of this pro-women, pro-education ranting? Well, in my opinion, Exxon Mobil did a terrific job in the PR department finding worthy causes across the U.S. and around the world, and capitalized on them to give the company positive community relations and ultimately positive government relations. “Hey, President Bush! I gave kids in Africa $2.8 million to study how to be the next leaders of the world. Wanna raise the gas tax again? Huh!?” I’m totally kidding. I’m aware that it doesn’t work that way. But hey, in Exxon Mobil’s case, any positive light can only be good.
Any BIG OIL corporation could sit on their pot of millions and just chuckle at the lowly and forsaken, but (I’m hoping) some smart man or woman in the PR department said “Hey! We need to take some of the money we make and do good with it!” And then hopefully he or she negated the ever-important “it will make us look good.”
So until next time, take a little look at Exxon Mobil’s noble initiatives on the Web site as listed above, and enjoy.
Until next time…
No comments:
Post a Comment