Fluorocarbon Co. Looking for Name That Won’t Get Lost in the Ozone
Peter Churm is worried about what’s in a name, so he’s doing something about it.
As chairman and chief executive of Fluorocarbon Co. in Laguna Niguel, Churm wants to change his company’s moniker to something, well, less controversial. Fluorocarbon, you see, sounds too much like chlorofluorocarbon for Churm’s liking.
“Our company does not make the harmful fluorocarbons that pollute the environment,” Churm told the Cleveland Society of Security Analysts at a meeting in Ohio on Wednesday morning. “The change must take place because we are innocent.”
What the fuss is all about is the continent-sized hole in the ozone layer in the atmosphere above Antarctica.
The hole is caused by the accumulation of chlorofluorocarbons in polar stratospheric clouds during the long, dark Antarctic night. When the sun comes back above the horizon in October, it triggers a massive destruction of ozone by the chemicals. And that is bad news.
“We have grown to become a $300-million-plus company over the past 34 years with our present name,” Churm told the analysts. “But that same name has different meanings, and these days it has been receiving considerable negative publicity. We’re tired of that association and of people thinking we’re bad guys, because we are not.’
Rather strong language, but then big companies are ever sensitive to bad publicity, and Fluorocarbon is no exception. The negative name hasn’t cost the company money. But Fluorocarbon, which makes rubber and plastic industrial products, does worry about its image.
“It’s just a sensitivity,” said Peri Kaylor, spokeswoman for Rifkind Pondel & Parsons, Fluorocarbon’s public relations firm. “They’ve been thinking about changing the name for a long time because of the publicity.”
The company came by its appellation honestly--and a long time ago. Founder George Angle gave the firm its name because it is a heavy user of Teflon, and fluorocarbon is a major element in the processing of Teflon, said Koichi Hosokawa, company controller.
Chlorofluorocarbon gases, which are used in solvents, air-conditioning units and some fire-extinguishing systems, are the ozone-eating culprits, Churm says.
Fluorocarbon plans to put the name change to a vote by shareholders sometime before the new fiscal year begins next February. No alternative names have been suggested to date.
