At Ford, quality may be job one, but smart communication sure isn’t

So, on the one hand the Ford Motor Company is laying off 30,000 employees. On the other, though, it continues to run television commercials featuring employees who grew up working on Ford cars and "…have Ford cars in their blood."

I sure hope some of the featured employees aren’t the ones who were handed pink slips the other day.Ford

Ford’s marketing misstep reeks of poor internal communications. Did the folks in human resources not communicate with their peers in communications, or vice versa. Or, is it simply a case of someone on high not thinking through the image implications of continuing the campaign during the downsizing. Either way, it’s embarrassing. As a communications "mechanic," I’d suggest Ford bring its internal processes into the shop for an alignment.

Hat tip to Jackie Kolek for her opinions about this.

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