An image beyond repair
Published 4:01 pm Thursday, June 10, 2010
As somewhere between 789,000 and 1.8 million gallons of oil a day continue to “spill” into the Gulf of Mexico, the catastrophe is close to beyond comprehension. BP’s “Beyond Petroleum” is sadly beyond parody. And when it comes to getting around to reimbursing businesses ruined by the disaster, apparently beyond parity.
(BP admitted it was a “misstep” to offer to pay fishermen $5,000 while asking them to sign waivers agreeing not to sue, the New York Times reported.)
BP officials have now agreed to speed up those payments. While, of course, maintaining that it hasn’t been slow to respond to the fishermen, property owners and businesspeople who have filed claims, and who have complained about delays, excessive paperwork and skimpy payments. Because admitting to delays, much less fault, would be “off message.”
If BP has discovered anything about itself during this crisis — which of course it sees at BP’s crisis, as opposed to the Earth’s, as evidenced by Tony “I’d like my life back” Hayward — it is that it can’t afford to be “off message.”
Toward that end, even as every attempt to stop the flood of oil has failed, BP has embarked on a massive PR campaign to “repair its image.” It’s a move that’s beyond even George Orwell’s prophetic novel, “1984.”
Simultaneously image-conscious and tone deaf, BP is reportedly spending $50 million on the campaign. Generally, these types of mea culpas are issued after a crisis has passed. BP, and the world’s scientists, can’t even gauge how much the company has to apologize for yet. It’s going to be beyond what they are willing to admit.
BP is spreading the advertising wealth, taking its message online, USA Today reported. Google, Bing and Yahoo are winners, the paper reported, as BP is paying to post sponsored advertisements that turn up in searches about the disaster. (Orwell couldn’t even conceive of that one, but Big Brother would approve.)
According to USA Today: When people type search queries such as “BP news,” “oil spill” and “oil spill claims,” the sponsored links are to a BP webpage with images, updates and videos of clean-up efforts. (A director at a search marketing agency called BP’s online campaign “a PR masterstroke.” Well, that’s one way of putting it.)
Meanwhile, two Democratic senators are pushing for legislation that would eliminate a $75 million cap for economic damages connected to an oil spill, the New York Times reported. This seems prudent. Otherwise BP will quickly and easily spend more on “repairing its image” than repairing the environmental and economic damage that is still beyond calculation.
