It's the secret dream of any reporter to write a story that makes his publication loose an advertiser because of what the story says about that particular company. It's even better when you succeed in doing so in the very first issue of a publication. And yet even more so if it's in a sponsored publication that has to prove its independence more than its commercial peers.

The powers behind Forrester Research's new "Forrester Magazine" therefore must be thrilled. In its first issue, the publication dug up some piece about the dark past of Ford Motor Company. It's founder liked Adolf Hitler and his anti-Semitic ideas just a bit too much. That's been common knowledge, but Ford is still in denial about it. In response to the publication the company pulled a contract with the technology research firm that was worth a couple hundred thousand dollars per year. Both Silicon Valley Watcher and Silicon Beat report about this little mishap.

The car maker must long back to the ages when you could just beat the hell out off people you disagreed with (as the company did when it had a union representative killed in 1937). But this is 2005, so instead Ford opted to telltale and called Forrester Research CEO George Colony. He had a good laugh about Ford's childishness, revised his upcoming financial statement to reflect Ford's contract cancellation and went on with his business.

That's what Ford should have done in the first place when they learnt that some historic facts would be published in the free media.

25 Mar 2005