BP Crisis

I am sure by now that everyone is aware of the crisis BP is facing after an explosion caused millions of gallons of oil to spill into the Gulf Coast. 

For several days, thousands of pounds of oil has been washing up on the Florida coast and BP did not acknowledge it.  BP officials have been releasing statements saying that there is not any oil in the Pensacola Bay.  A local fishermen, who is working for BP to help clean up the oil, said that the company is "trying to keep it quiet."  However, when a quarter mile long oil slick started to approach the beach over the weekend, BP could no longer keep quiet.  On Saturday a spokesperson said that the company has "spent considerable effort to get people to concentrate on cleaning it up." 

In my opinion, BP has handled the oil spill crisis very poorly from the beginning.  This latest incident is no exception.  If I worked for BP, as soon as I got notice from the people of Florida that oil was approaching the beaches, I would have done a couple things.  The first would be to organize volunteers for beach cleanup.  Then I would notify all sources of local media to help get the word out about the beach cleanup.  By the media seeing the cleanup in process they would report that BP was being proactive about getting rid of the oil, and that could help start turning public opinion around about the company.



Instead, BP ignored the problem until they could no longer do so.  Once they had to acknowledge the oil, they did not even say they were wrong or apologize.  This is poor crisis communication management.


You can read the entire article here.