Ford Motor Company–Glacier National Park Tourism Film
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Title
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Ford Motor Company–Glacier National Park Tourism Film
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Description
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Can private companies be environmentalists? “...And as you breathe in the bracing mountain air, you get a new grip on life,” says this 1939 tourist film just moments after describing the nearby Blackfeet Nation as a remnant of a historical past. The land on which Glacier National Park stands was stolen from the Blackfeet through a deal brokered by George Bird Grinnell, the founder of the Audubon Society. This calls into focus the ways in which private organizations and private companies–like the Ford Motor Company–have used environmentalist thinking to their own financial and commercial benefit, often to the detriment of those most impacted by their actions. As much as this film depicts the stunning terrain of Glacier National Park, it is more-so an advertisement for Ford vehicles. In 2022, we understand fossil fuels and fossil fuels emissions to be a leading cause of climate change. Here, Ford plays a sleight of hand in suggesting that their vehicles have some connection to the conservation of park lands. In contemporary terms, when a company misguides consumers into believing their product has a positive environmental impact, we call this “greenwashing.”
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Type
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Moving image
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Format
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mp4
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Rights
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Copyright Ford Motor Company, Wilding Picture Productions, Inc.
