Anasha CummingsNick HelinskiTommie Sgueglia

What matrix of factors shaped communication in the wake of the 2010 BP disaster?

BP’s Media Control Why is BP so “Green” BP’s Media Blackout

Alternative Means of Communication Comedy as News Delivery Parodies spreading Information

Media Digitalization How information is getting out The “Individual Investigator”

Agenda for Today

INSERT GROUP COLLAGE HERE

BP’s Oily Handsin the Communication World

What’s On Deck

BP’s Greenwashing History Safety Comes First Hayward’s PR response to Deepwater Media Blackout Deepwater Live Feed A Brighter Future

BP’s Lean Mean Greenwashing Machine

200 Million dollar rebranding campaign launched in 2000 under John Browne

“Our logo was launched in 2000, and was designed as a dramatic break with tradition. It is unlike any other energy identity, and symbolizes a number of things - from the living, organic form of a sunflower to the greatest source of energy...the sun itself.”

-BP’s Website

"BP's re-branding as the "Beyond Petroleum" company is perhaps the ultimate co-optation of environmentalists' language and message… BP's suggestion that producing more natural gas is somehow akin to global leadership is preposterous. Make that Beyond Preposterous.

– Kenny Bruno, Journalist

BP’s Lean Mean Greenwashing Machine

BP purchased Solarex in 1999 for $45 million Not advertised was the $26.5 billion

purchase of ARCO to expand it’s oil portfolio.

"Pretentious stuff for a company serving mainly oil and gas, with just a sliver of solar on the side. Make that Beyond Pretentious.“

– Kenny Bruno, Journalist

Going Solar? I Think Not

We are the Good Guys  'Everyone thinks we are bad guys. . . .

We can't just start out announcing we are good guys, so what we have to announce is we have finally realized we were bad guys and we are going to be better.' . . . It makes it much easier for critics and the public to buy into the image of the industry as good guys after you have spent awhile in purgatory.

- Peter Sandman, BP PR adviser

The Green Oilman’s Final Run 2004 – Propane Market Manipulation

Fined $373 million 2005 – Texas City Refinery Explosion

15 dead, 150 injured 2006 – Prudhoe Bay Oil Spill

267,000 gallons of oil 2007 – Lake Michigan Dumping Permit

54% more ammonia, 35% more suspended solids

“Dawn of a New Day”

Tony Hayward takes over in 2007 and claims: "to refocus the company and change the

culture, emphasizing safety.” 2007 recorded unsatisfactory profits

7,5000 job cuts and $4 billion in expenses 2008 – Additional $3 billion cuts 2009 - Hayward received a 40% pay

increase for his efforts and improved company performance

Hayward’s Safety Hiccups 2008 – Atlantis oil rig infractions 2009 – Helicopter crash off North shore

killing eight contractors 2009 – Gas line rupture in Alaska 2009 – Six acres of Alaskan tundra

covered in “small” spill

Cost cutting was center of attention

Investigation showed: Cheaper well casing used

Saved $7 million Did no secure the casing

hanger Would have required several

days work Spending $1 million per day to

use platform At time of spill - $29 million

over budget, several weeks behind schedule

2010 Deepwater Horizon

Deepwater in the Media

"This is not our accident, but it's our responsibility,“ “The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount

of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume.“

-Tony Hayward

Media Blackout Journalists have continually been denied

access to clean up areas

Adam Dillion refused to talk to media but was fired from BP shortly after as being a liability Came across equations believed to be related

to dispersants Claim that efforts were centered around saving

money rather than environmental restoration

“BP has been to allow as much access as possible to media and other parties without compromising the work we are engaged on or the safety of those to whom we give access.”

– David Nicholas, BP spokesperson

Media Blackout

Deepwater Live Feed Footage has been available

since the spill 23 days later Congress

required BP to make video feed public

“Congress and the American public have the right to know what is happening in real time, so that they can understand and react to the situation as it develops,“

– Edward Markey, (D) MA

Looking To a Brighter Future

Who’s In Charge? A defined chain of command

Hands Off Approach Too Much Responsibility? Government action

Questions

Conclusion BP’s image in the media is a constant game Major efforts to control what of their efforts are

being made public If they claim the accident is not their

responsibility, why are they being so secretive? “Their ad campaign polishing the corporate

image is going off like clockwork. I wish they would do a better job of actually addressing the economic damage to my state and small-business owners.“

– Kathy Castor, (D) FL

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