What is this?

Monday June 27, 2005 - 7:15PM EDT

"Our main mission as a company is to contribute to a better society," President Katsuaki Watanabe, who took up his post last week, told a news conference on Monday held to introduce the company's new management team.

"We need to do much more in this field than we have been." - full article

I think that is the first time the head of major corporation has said they are in business for the betterment of mankind. This somehow is unprecedented. Are they serious though or is it a ploy to prevent the "political fallout" they are afraid off?