It appears that everyone – including the mass media – has been covering the recent events that have been happening in the Gulf of Mexico with the oil spill and British Petroleum (BP). This is indeed a PR Nightmare in my opinion – it is amazing to see that some things in crisis communication practices continue not to be practiced, and that some organizations have not learned from previous case studies in the same situation. Can we say Exxon-Valdez anyone? What I am interested in this particular case is the role that social media has played in this situation. Social media has allowed people to voice their opinions and share their views on what BP is doing in this case, and has created a virtual firestorm in asking others to either boycott BP products, or even create a plugin to black out mentions online of BP.
In this situation, it does not look too positive for BP. Their reputation is negatively damaged to the point that one has to question whether or not it will ever recover, and how much damage they will eventually have all together. The media and other professionals are negatively presenting them to the public both online and offline. BP does have a messy situation on their hands – the longer they wait to take action and responsibility – the more damage they are doing towards their brand and impacting thousands in not only their organization, but the communities affected by the oil spill and environment. There needs to be changes made that are proactive and necessary, and we will have to wait and see what happens. This case continues to evolve and change each day – and the role that social media is playing in this situation will be one for the textbooks for years to come. Instead of looking at Exxon-Valdez as the iconic case study in public relations on what not to do in a crisis situation, I think that we have a new case that will be used. Congratulations BP on becoming the 21st version of Exxon-Valdez for public relations case studies in crisis communication practices.
These are just a few thoughts of mine on the subject. Hope you all are having a great day.
Best Wishes,
Karen
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