Known Reputation Management Techniques Used by BP

Presently, the world is bleeding into the ocean after a BP owned oil-rig exploded and fell into the sea. As the world watches the lethargic 'containment and clean-up' efforts unfold, the question on my mind is how is BP trying to deflect the damage to the company?

What are the techniques used by BP and Big Oil to dissuade the public from buying an electric car tonight after watching the evening news?

In this hub, I'll point out known techniques used by BP to deflect the impending damage to their company.

Have you been looking for the latest info on the BP oil spill in one of the search engines lately?

If not, you would have missed BP's latest effort to try and deflect damage from their oil spill: buying up keyword phrases related to the oil spill in your favorite search engine's advertising platform. "Learn more about how BP is helping" reads the tag-line.

A spokesman for BP confirmed that the company had in fact purchased advertising space on Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

"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," BP spokesman Toby Odone told ABC News.

With so many people searching for content about the oil spill, coupled with the fact that a good portion of search engine users can't distinguish paid from organic search results, make this effort a great reputation management technique BP is using to try and control the information people find about their ecological catastrophe.

To remain at the top of the pile must cost BP a small fortune each day, but in the grand scheme of things, it's probably just a drop in the bucket.

Having control of the information others find is a valuable resource. It's a proactive approach to their damage control.

06/11/2010 - BP has gone from manipulating the flow of information to controlling the gathering of information as pilots report a no-fly zone over parts of the Gulf of Mexico.

Reported in a National Geographic article, a two-sentence blurb speaks of the efforts to control the images of the oilspill:

The boats were working in possibly the worst part of the slick that we, as regular people, are allowed to see. That's because there's an invisible "box" that private aircraft can't fly through, the pilot told us--presumably right over and around the spill.

It goes to show the depth of cronyism and back-scratching BP and Big Oil will sink to. 

As we approach the two month mark, it's clear BP is more concerned with salvaging their image than they are at salvaging the Gulf of Mexico.

06/12/2010 - BP has taken it upon themselves to contradict a statement issued last week issued by BP COO Doug Suttles that media will not be blocked from covering the oilspill or talking to clean-up workers. 

Video footage from a Louisiana news crew caught security personnel harrassing the media, and trying to block them from speaking to any clean-up crew.

Once permitted by local sheriffs, the news crew was allowed entry to speak to clean-up workers on break, and none seemed willing to talk.

Did BP warn them from speaking to the media?