Post on 13-Jan-2016
transcript
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
Sources: http://www.infowars.com/bp-commands-government-to-strangle-off-media-coverage-of-oil-gusher/ http://www.mediaite.com/online/is-bp-hiding-dead-wildlife-from-media-coverage/ http://www.cjr.org/the_observatory/inside_bps_media_blockade.php http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/03/AR2010060300848.html http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/18/national/main6496610.shtml http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=BP_and_Greenwashing http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tony_Hayward#cite_note-0 http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9028307&contentId=7019193 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,993980,00.html http://www.capitolnewsconnection.org/news/look-bps-8000-other-spills-1990 000 http://www.spectator.co.uk/essays/6099278/part_2/the-real-villain-of-bp.thtml http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7911546/BP-oil-spill-the-rise-and-fall-of-Tony-Hayward.html http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/04/nation/la-na-0504-oil-spill-20100504 http://www.bnet.com/blog/clean-energy/bp-8217s-history-of-oil-spills-and-accidents-same-strategy-different-day/1768 http://gulfcoastmaritime.com/the-gulf-coast/district-court-sets-ground-rules-for-bps-communications-with-oil-spill-claimants/2587/ http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/05/bp-coated-sludge-after-years-greenwashing http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/mm2005/112005/mokhiber.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/bp-pays-373m-to-end-investigations-in-us-397975.html http://www.petersandman.com/col/deepwater4.htm http://gulfcoastmaritime.com/the-gulf-coast/district-court-sets-ground-rules-for-bps-communications-with-oil-spill-claimants/2587/ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37877926/ns/business-oil_and_energy/ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38818600/ns/disaster_in_the_gulf/ http://www.davidhenderson.com/2010/05/01/crisis-communications-online-during-an-oil-spill/ http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/27/louisiana-bp-oil-spill-coastguard http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-stepanian/bps-greenwashing-cant-cle_b_581253.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/05/7-secrets-bp-doesnt-want_n_563102.html#s87354&title=Looking_Out_For http://towardfreedom.com/home/content/view/1953/1/ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8040468.stm http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/news-and-blogs/campaign-blog/recapping-on-bps-long-history-of-greenwashing/blog/26025 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/01/AR2010090106673.html