BP Phase

Lately the news has been focused on the freakish oil spills caused by BP. Many displaying their disappointment in the lack of effort on BP part to get things fixed and done. I can honestly say I have not paid much attention to the news. It seems like when one big story is out they do so much to over cover it to the point where it’s a bit redundant. Yes, it is horrible that they our polluting our waters and harming the wild life around the areas that the oil spilled. I am a BP gas user, will this major incident effect my view on this product, not likely. Needless to say, it is not that I don’t care about wild life it’s just a fact that once this story passes people will continue using their products. This negative news coverage has happened to many other companies before and most survived.

One thing that does come to my mind, being a public relations/ advertising major, is all the pr that is going to be involved to clear up this mess. I was recently invited to join a group on Facebook called, BOYCOTT BP UNTIL THEY STOP THE LEAK!! It is bad enough that the news coverage is focused on all the failed efforts involved in cleaning up this oil spill. But now they have Facebook pages and other websites encouraging people to stop using BP products. What makes it worse is that the picture that represents this page is the BP gas symbol with a picture of a large dead turtle next to it. This type of culture jamming is putting this company at risk.

One thing that is clear. The news is no longer covering stories on the bad rap Toyota has had lately. They have always been known for building quality products until recent malfunctions with their products. They have had to pull out some major pr tactics to cover their butts. But it seems that when one major issue leaks to the media, a company has a chance to get “lucky” and have their story set aside while another major incident arises. It seems a little wrong how easily one big story can be almost forgotten due to new stories. Lets see how long this BP scandal remains on the front of everyone’s mind.

-LV