The BP Oil Spill PR Catastrophe

BP, the British company, is working frantically to stay ahead of the growing disaster and the blow to its carefully manicured image of environmental responsibility. However, the way in which their image is repaired really depends upon how they handle this whole situation. This whole story makes me extremely upset, especially after seeing the movie Oceans just last week. It's a public relations disaster, especially after all the new CEO has done to redo BP's image. I think it will take people a long time to shake this off their minds, but so far I believe BP has done a decent job (besides their initial downplay of the spill) responding to this crisis and taking responsibility for their mess. I just think their emergency plan has taken too long to activate.

Seeking to blunt criticism of its emergency response, the British oil giant BP vowed Friday to harness all of its resources to battle the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as the company worked frantically to stay ahead of the growing disaster and the blow to its carefully constructed image of environmental responsibility.

Louisiana and federal officials said BP's efforts so far were "not adequate" and that the London company should do more, even ask for help from competitors, to contain the approximately 5,000 barrels of oil leaking each day after last week's sinking of the oil rig Deepwater Horizon.

On Friday BP mounted a spirited defense of its work to seal the leaking oil well and contain the spill, which could surpass the1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska's Prince William Sound as the worst in U.S. history. BP is the majority owner of the oil field and, with its partners, is spending about $7 million a day on the problem while BP's falling stock price has sliced about $25 billion from the company's market value.

BP said it took responsibility for the response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and said they will clean it up and pay all necessary and appropriate clean-up costs. "We are determined to fight this spill on all fronts, in the deep waters of the gulf, in the shallow waters and , should it be necessary, on the shore," said BP Group Chief Executive Ton Hayward.

BP has a lot to defend. In recent years, BP has spent heavily to position itself as an environmentally friendly company, redesigning its logo into a green-and-yellow sunburst and advertising its $4-billion alternative-energy push to move "beyond petroleum." In addition, BP has been plagued by safety problems, including a March 2005 explosion at BP's Texas City refinery, which killed 15 workers and injured about 170.

Hayward became CEO only three years ago and has worked hard to restore the company's public image. This week, after an initial bobble in which the company downplayed the size of the leak at about 1,000 barrels a day, BP appears to be doing many things well to avoid outrage, down to framing itself as an ally fighting against a common enemy, experts said.

Federal officials shut down fishing from the Mississippi River to Florida Panhandle on Sunday. Sadly, the environmental disaster is still expected to take at least a week to cut off.