BP brand spills all over world headlines
BP’s (British Petroleum) Chief Executive, Tony Hayward, demonstrated extraordinary lack public relations brand astuteness over the weekend of 19-20 June when he was spotted on ‘Bob’, his £182,000 co-owned Farr 52 racing yacht.
Mr Hayward was enjoying time off at the JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race held at the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England.
A spokesman was quickly summoned to defend Mr Hayward, 53, saying he was there to relax with his son.
Meanwhile, the White House described Hayward’s involvement in the race as a:
“long line of PR gaffes and mistakes”.
The Gulf of Mexico spill is currently about a fifth of the size of the 1990 Persian Gulf spill .
Recently Mr Hayward wrote on Facebook that he wanted to “get his life back”.
Responding to ‘Bob-gate’, the White House Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s Chief of Staff said:
“I think we can all conclude that Tony Hayward is not going to have a second career in PR consulting.”
A BP spokesperson explained that the break was a first for Mr Hayward since the Deep Water Horizon rig exploded in April, costing the lives of eleven workers and causing America’s most devastating environmental disaster in history.
Life on the high seas for Hayward
On 19th June, BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said Mr Hayward had been relieved of the day-to-day control of the spill and that the company’s Managing Director, Bob Dudley, would be assuming responsibility.
However according to some conflicting reports, BP officials insisted Mr Hayward remains in charge of the operation. Hugh Wilding, of Isle of Wight Friends of the Earth, said:
“This will be seen as another public relations disaster.”
Greenpeace campaigner Charlie Kronick called the boating trip as:
“insulting… rubbing salt into the wounds” of those affected by the spill.
Thousands of barrels of oil continue to seep out into the Gulf of Mexico daily.
Steps have been put in to capturing some 25,000 barrels of leaking oil a day. However, reports suggest 35,000-60,000 barrels a day continue to spill out.
BP was recently panned over its role in the Gulf of Mexico oil crisis by one of its own business partners, the Texan company Anadarko Petroleum, the largest independent oil and gas company operating in the Gulf which owns 25% of the well. BP strongly denied any such claims.
The company has said that claim payments exceeded $100,000,000; 31,000 cheques had been issued in seven weeks since the original explosion. $104 million to residents along the Gulf Coast.
Jonathan Gabay
www.brandforensics.co.uk
Sunday, June 20th, 2010 at 5:58 pmand is filed under Advertising, BP brand, Brand expert, Branding, British brands. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
