No Goodwill for Hummers

Over at the New York Times Magazine, “Consumed” columnist Rob Walker has seen a Hummer— the large and often derided, military-derived General Motors SUV that will soon be sold as a brand to the Chinese—in the parking lot of a Goodwill and “smirked.” The implication is that the Hummer owner painted himself (and it’s probably a him) into a financial corner through his purchase of a pricey, gas-chuggin’ monstrosity and must now wear clothes and shoes that other people have worn before him. Or maybe he was just looking for a set of old golf clubs or hoping to pick up a dozen wine glasses for $6. Point is: You own a Hummer now, you’re on the road to ruin.

Of, if you consider some research that Walker cites, you find yourself in a “brand-mediated moral conflict.” Basically, people who own Hummers have a vastly different view of themselves than people who don’t like people who own Hummers.

It’s always tempting to view Hummer, now headed for the Middle Kingdom and new life as an emblem of hulking aspiration for a whole new population, as a symbol of something arrogant and fallen in Americans. Not long after the Hummer arrived, we rushed at breakneck speed toward an inconvenient truth, peak oil, the 2008 gas crisis, the Great Recession, and the Detroit meltdown.

But the truth is that Hummer is just a brand, and GM wanted to develop it because it needed vehicles with an aggressive image to suggest bold, aggressive things about itself as a car company. GM does the same thing with Corvette, but there’s not very much Corvette hatred in the land, mainly because people who drive Corvettes are viewed as pathetic midlife gearhead hillbillies; if they had any class, they’d drive Porsches. The Hummer owner is reviled. The Corvette owner is pitied. Also, Corvettes have been around for so long that no one gives them much thought, whereas Hummer is seen as the Darth Vader of automotive galaxy.

But it was just a vehicle, it never sold in massive numbers, it didn’t really mean anything, except as a focal point for fringe debates about personal style and the environment. It garnered GM the brand attention it sought. It’s now too charged and difficult to manufacture and market effectively, so GM is selling it. As purchases go, it was a pretty good one. Some have argued that it’s more sustainable than a Prius, because it’s built to last.

What Hummer-hatred really points to is a misunderstanding about environmental damage. There are many reasons why the globe is warmer, ranging from continued burning of coal to deforestation to transportation emissions. On this last, it isn’t Hummer that’s the real problem—it’s the widespread availability of personal mobility. The Volkswagen Beetle did far more damage to the environment than the Hummer ever did, or will (more than 21 million Beetles were built). But such is the trade-off. We’re not a society that’s going to give up personal mobility so we can have cleaner air and a cooler atmosphere. So in that sense, there’s a little Hummer in all of us.