"Ecomagination": Beyond Electric

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General Electric began "heavily advertising" its "new company-wide environmental initiative" called "ecomagination." Its goals are "to decrease pollution from its products and to double research and development spending on cleaner technologies." (According to Grist, one TV ad "features scantily clad models dusted with soot," as an announcer says, "Thanks to emissions-reducing technologies from GE, the power of coal is getting more beautiful every day.") The "ecomagination" launch followed a year of "planning and packaging," and was assisted by Edelman, O'Dwyer's reported. Some environmentalists "praised the effort for having measurable performance targets" and addressing global warming. The Sierra Club's Hudson River Program was less enthusiastic. "When you scratch beneath the public relations surface, I'm afraid they have unfinished business in terms of environmental protection," said director Chris Ballantyn, referring to GE's stalling on cleaning up PCBs that leaked into the Hudson from its factories.