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BP Using Massive PR and Internet Strategies to Deal with Spill

By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Jun 8th 2010 10:55PM
Filed under: Dr. Boyce Money, News, The Economy

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If you are like President Barack Obama, who says that he's looking for "whose ass to kick" over the BP oil spill, you might find that BP is the first result you run into when doing a Google search while looking. The company has taken a very proactive approach to dealing with the PR mess coming from the largest oil spill in American history by buying sponsored ad links on all the major search engines for any keyword term related to the spill.

Many industry observers think that the company's course of action is a good one and may be helpful when working to overcome the massive PR problems that will come from the spill. "The PR department at BP's job is to describe -- accurately -- what they are doing," said Ad Age writer Josh Bernoff. "Any attempts to spin are pointless and will backfire."


The company is spending up to $10,000 per day to make sure that when you search terms like "oil" and "oil spill," you are given a chance to hear BP's side of the story. The words, "Info about the Gulf of Mexico Spill Learn More about How BP is Helping," appear next to the ad when you search for terms related to the spill.

"We have bought search terms on search engines like Google to make it easier for people to find out more about our efforts in the Gulf and make it easier for people to find key links to information on filing claims, reporting oil on the beach and signing up to volunteer," a BP spokesman told ABC News.



The move is a smart and affordable one for BP, which has has lost over $70 billion in market value since the spill began. The company, whose profits were over $40 million dollars per day before the spill, can certainly afford the cost of protecting its image. None of this may work, however, since the American people are angry and fed up with the company's behavior, which has threatened to destroy much of the Gulf coast for our lifetimes. In fact, some believe that this could bankrupt the company.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the author of the new book, "Black American Money." To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

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