While BP has beefed up its online presence and continues its advertising campaign, now featuring a BP rep from the Gulf (gee, maybe that should have been your first move?), the company is still facing much public scrutiny. Yesterday, I read an article about how BP sent a letter to Florida Governor Crist, refusing to give the state more money to advertise.
The company has spent a reported $50 million on its own “We will make it right” advertising campaign to try and salvage its image. In all honesty, any amount of advertising or investment in social media BP does is falling on deaf ears. If you distrust a company, you are not going to listen to them. BP missed opportunities at the beginning of the spill to help its image, and should now focus its efforts on making things right – as it promises in its ads – through actions, not an advertising campaign.
As a PR pro, I’m just going to make a simple suggestion for the company. What if BP took the money it’s spending on its own advertising and gave it to the states and people who are affected to help get them back on their feet? I’m not a reporter, but I’d bet that would make a pretty nice story. If BP is worried about its image, it should stop caring about itself and start taking a few steps in the right direction to get some positive PR.
