I have been seeing the PR references coming up routinely now in the certainly... meritorous defamartory news reports world wide on BP's oil crisis. It is now proclaimed as the worst environmental disaster ever faced in North America and to add more fuel to its fire, PR efforts are unceasingly receiving big fat: FAILS.
So, what are they doing wrong?
CEO, Tony Hawyard, has publically declared that he would "Like his life back" and was even seen this past weekend at a prestigious yacht racing event in the oil free waters off the coast of England. He is the company's primary CEO based out of the UK. MSNBC reports that John Hofmeister, former Shell chairman has remarked that from a PR perspective, it would have been more helpful for BP to have their top level American executives face the press. BP's chief operating officer, Doug Suttles who is American, has come out out of the woodwork, but Hawyard continues to get the spotlight. Eric Rugly from the Globe and Mail, has put it like this: "If there is one thing BP should have done from the onset, it should have been to recruit a high-profile, plain-talking, media-friendly, all-American tough guy to act as the company’s official spokesman." Very true!
Another major BP fail- PR rule #1- Underplay the bad and overplay the good:.On the BP website there is a live video stream active the gushing oil. In some ways this is good, as it indicates that BP is not depreciating the seriousness of the issue- but showcasing this video is taking away from all the good that is being done.
I will definitely be returning to this topic. I hope they can turn things around, time will only tell.
