BP Oil Spill in Perspective

Do you really understand how BIG this nasty, depressing oil spill is? Sometimes we need things in perspective…Andy Lintner created a program that does exactly that. His site http://www.ifitwasmyhome.com/ allows you to see the size of the spill, should it have originated from your zip code. Try it! Here’s what it looks like as of today, if ground zero happened to be Malibu:

What a mess…………!

The way CEO Tony Hayward is making a mess of his company’s PR response is comedy to communications professionals — and so is this video “BP Spills Coffee” — so if you need a laugh at BP’s expense, check it out (though you’ve probably seen it by now!):

-Dan TWW

BP Oil Spill – Another PR Crisis Management Fail

Note to BP CEO:

SHUT UP ALREADY.

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.  -Guardian, UK (May 14, 2010)

Our resident crisis expert Susan Tellem, is stunned at the slow reaction by all involved from BP to the feds.  CEO Tony Hayward waited way too long to make a statement and then was so cavalier to state that it “wasn’t BP’s accident.” What happened to “I’m so sorry”?

Listen up executives who don’t have crisis management procedures in place… Tiger Woods and Toyota could have both used some sound advice from crisis management professionals. From Susan:

• I would never put my CEO out there first.

There should be someone slightly lower on the totem pole so that the head guy can be brought out if something worse happens.

• Put on your jeans and boots and get out there to help.

Has Hayward visited the site yet?  He’s been to Washington three times (that I’m aware of) to kiss the arses of power players who make decisions about who drills and where, but not to the actual spill zone.

• Have a crisis plan in place or knowledge to fix this type of problem.

It should have never been approved by the Feds in the first place without an action plan if the valve failed.

• The Feds waited too long to react.

They are pushing everything else through – healthcare, immigration reform, etc. like there is no tomorrow but were not quick to react to this problem.

Furthermore, Susan adds that the original statement by the CEO was equally laughable and grammatically incorrect.  And a dismal failure.  From AP:

BP’s chief executive said Tuesday that a containment dome designed to cover the Gulf oil leak will be on the seabed Thursday, and will be hooked up to a drill ship over the weekend. ‘This has never been done in 5,000 feet of water … So we’ll undoubtedly encounter some issues as we go through that process,” CEO Tony Hayward told reporters at a news conference. ‘But if that was a good outcome, then you would have the principal leak contained by the early part of next week. But there’s (sic) no guarantees.’

Well we all know how that ended – something between explosive diarrhea and projectile vomiting on the sea floor when the 100 ton cap misbehaved. What a big mess and PR crisis fail to compliment such a horrible and unfortunate situation.

-Dan TWW