In a Reuters article, Eric Schmidt talks about their stated philosophy - "Don't be evil" - and how this translates into practice, and what it means to the company.
In an on-stage interview with writer Ken Auletta of the New Yorker magazine, Schmidt said "Don't be evil" is meant to provoke internal debate over what constitutes ethical corporate behavior, rather than representing an absolute moral position.
Google will likely continue to have difficulties in the PR arena, because, for many people in this culture, CORPORATION = EVIL RICH = EVIL, and BIG = EVIL, thanks to a variety of social factors.
And because BIG (or rich, or successful) = EVIL and CORPORATION = EVIL for many people, there is simply no way that G can avoid being viewedas EVIL as they continue to expand into new business areas (regardless of the validity of such a view).
See, when Google was the upstart, the underdog, the brash newcomer, the better alternative, it could get away with the slogan, and it worked well for them. It's not working so well these days.
Note that I'm not calling Google evil (although I think Google sometimes does things that makes people wonder if they take their stated philosophy seriously). I'm pointing out a cultural trend towards class (and economic) rhetorical warfare, over which Google has little control. And that is what will cause trouble for Google, over the long haul.
Ask Google Vendors About Evil
Google is notorious for squeezing their vendors and also stealing technologies during evaluations of products. Essentially after they evaluate some vendor technologies, then they "roll their own" based on what they learned during the evaluation instead of buying it. Much like other .coms before them - such as Amazon, they put vendors feet to the fire/ Especially smaller vendors because they are "Google" or fill in the name of flavor of the day Silicon Valley company.
The Google campus is very cult-ish/elitist and some are downright nasty in their communications. How many ivy league graduates exist in this world? How do you build a well rounded company with such a philosophy? Yahoo/Amazon used to be like that too. It is a rigged game in Silicon Valley...
When Google Owns You
For more goodies, see:
When Google Owns You