It's not going to work, BP

[Elizabeth I]

Has anybody else seen the new BP TV ad with the good ol' boy who's "from around here" talking about how he's goin' to work real hard to clean up this here mess? Nobody cares more about this here Gulf Coast than he does!

Hello, BP? Talking crap in a southern accent doesn't make you any more credible than talking crap in a British accent.

And it doesn't make us like you any better, or feel any more inclined to forgive your incredible carelessness, arrogance and indifference.

 

[MarkCorrigan]

Ah BP, the soulless face of Britain. Keep on truckin' you amoral bastards.

 

[calebprime]

Why do you folks hate pretty green flower-petals?

And why won't you think of the CEO? He'd like his life back. Have you no pity for him? He's a person, too.

 

[phantomb]

What a slimy oily move!

 

[ShadowSot]

Why do you folks hate pretty green flower-petals?

And why won't you think of the CEO? He'd like his life back. Have you no pity for him? He's a person, too.

Great Shades of Chris Cocker Batman!

 

[Quinn]

I have this vision of that guy being some anonymous, paper-pushing office drone until this mess went down, and someone in PR noticed that Drone #4275B was an authentic good ol' boy from down da bayou, at which point he was informed that if we wanted to remain in BP's employ, he would accept this promotion to the position of Head Cleanup Guy (chief duty: producing TV soundbytes).

 

[Elizabeth I]

I have this vision of that guy being some anonymous, paper-pushing office drone until this mess went down, and someone in PR noticed that Drone #4275B was an authentic good ol' boy from down da bayou, at which point he was informed that if we wanted to remain in BP's employ, he would accept this promotion to the position of Head Cleanup Guy (chief duty: producing TV soundbytes).

 

[Tricky]

I don't know about that ad, but I know about another one. It featured Darryl Willis. He's a geophysicist that I worked with in the South Louisiana group. That was about ten years ago, and Darryl has advanced pretty far. He's not a paper-pusher He's the head of an exploration team and is making quite a name for himself. And yes, he truly is from Louisiana (as many of BPs staff are) and that really is his accent.

And yes, many of us are working nights and weekends and doing scut work to help clean up this mess. There is nobody in the world who wants this cleaned up more than BP folks. And yes, it is pretty hard on some people. It is a very depressing place and I think most of you are aware of what depression can do to your life.

If any of you think that BP people are being cynical and just trying to "PR" our way out of this mess, I suggest you visit our command center here in Houston. Do it some Saturaday night around 3AM. There will be lots of people there. Oh, and why don't you bike or walk there. You wouldn't want to use any gasoline, because that would mean we have to keep drilling oil wells.

 

[Alt+F4]

And yes, many of us are working nights and weekends and doing scut work to help clean up this mess. There is nobody in the world who wants this cleaned up more than BP folks. And yes, it is pretty hard on some people. It is a very depressing place and I think most of you are aware of what depression can do to your life.

If any of you think that BP people are being cynical and just trying to "PR" our way out of this mess, I suggest you visit our command center here in Houston. Do it some Saturaday night around 3AM. There will be lots of people there.

I agree with you Tricky, but BP should just stop the television ads, it doesn't help anything.

 

[Tricky]

I agree with you Tricky, but BP should just stop the television ads, it doesn't help anything.

It doesn't do any good with incredibly cynical people, but I think a lot of people out there don't realize that BP is composed of a whole lot of people like me and Darryl. We're not a bunch of faceless paper-pushers and we really do care.

Remember the Exxon method? After Valdez, there was stony silence and un-cooperativeness and little or no information given to the press. You really think that's the better way? Maybe it worked better to keep the stock up, but it BP has committed itself to being open and accessible about this. And compared to a lot of companies after a disaster, I think you would have to admit that they've been so. Our CEO is a household name now. Every time there is a story, there is a name attached, not "just Vice President of Technical Finagling". And people like Darryl Willis and whoever that guy was in the ad Elizabeth mentioned. (I hardly watch TV anymore. Too depressing.)

We are skeptics here, that is true. But skepticism is not synonymous with cynicism. Sure we want to portray our company in the best light possible, but I can say from first-hand knowledge that this is not some lie perpetuated by Wall Street. I know these folks. Lots of them. I am one. And I'm proud of the way my company has not run away from criticism, but has come through with the information, the people, and the cash to try to deal with this disaster.

I think, maybe a few years from now, when people can look back on this disaster without the harsh light of the TV cameras photographing the same dead bird thousands of times, maybe they will see it too.

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Has anybody else seen the new BP TV ad with the good ol' boy who's "from around here" talking about how he's goin' to work real hard to clean up this here mess? Nobody cares more about this here Gulf Coast than he does!

Hello, BP? Talking crap in a southern accent doesn't make you any more credible than talking crap in a British accent.

And it doesn't make us like you any better, or feel any more inclined to forgive your incredible carelessness, arrogance and indifference.

I have to admit, I fell for it.

 

[Rolfe]

And you still think you were taken for a sucker by cynical PR, after reading Tricky's posts? Just because Elizabeth is cynical?

Rolfe.

 

[Cavemonster]

It doesn't do any good with incredibly cynical people, but I think a lot of people out there don't realize that BP is composed of a whole lot of people like me and Darryl. We're not a bunch of faceless paper-pushers and we really do care.

Remember the Exxon method? After Valdez, there was stony silence and un-cooperativeness and little or no information given to the press. You really think that's the better way? Maybe it worked better to keep the stock up, but it BP has committed itself to being open and accessible about this. And compared to a lot of companies after a disaster, I think you would have to admit that they've been so. Our CEO is a household name now. Every time there is a story, there is a name attached, not "just Vice President of Technical Finagling". And people like Darryl Willis and whoever that guy was in the ad Elizabeth mentioned. (I hardly watch TV anymore. Too depressing.)

We are skeptics here, that is true. But skepticism is not synonymous with cynicism. Sure we want to portray our company in the best light possible, but I can say from first-hand knowledge that this is not some lie perpetuated by Wall Street. I know these folks. Lots of them. I am one. And I'm proud of the way my company has not run away from criticism, but has come through with the information, the people, and the cash to try to deal with this disaster.

I think, maybe a few years from now, when people can look back on this disaster without the harsh light of the TV cameras photographing the same dead bird thousands of times, maybe they will see it too.

Tricky, it becomes a question of who the we're talking about when we're talking about BP.

Of course many of the employees, and even the highest levels of management may feel awful about this disaster and want to stop the damage as much and as quickly as possible.

But what remains, is that this same company downplayed threats when they wanted to get clearance to build these kinds of things in the first place, and that they did not have adequate plans in place to deal with what they knew was a very possible disaster. They knew that that particular well was a risk and purposefully decided to sacrifice safety measures to cut costs


They lied about the extent of the oil spilling out.

The company as a whole has behaved dishonestly and destructively. And with these ads, they are attempting to co-opt the real human emotions of their employees to help quell consumer distrust and ultimately get people buying their product again. By buying their product again, you vote with your dollars for the people at the top who allowed this to happen.

Tricky, I am in no way questioning your sincerity in feeling terrible about this disaster, but I'm puzzled that you don't mind that sincerity being harnessed to try to save the higher-ups who created this terrible situation.

 

[Elizabeth I]

I don't know about that ad, but I know about another one. It featured Darryl Willis. He's a geophysicist that I worked with in the South Louisiana group. That was about ten years ago, and Darryl has advanced pretty far. He's not a paper-pusher He's the head of an exploration team and is making quite a name for himself. And yes, he truly is from Louisiana (as many of BPs staff are) and that really is his accent.

And yes, many of us are working nights and weekends and doing scut work to help clean up this mess. There is nobody in the world who wants this cleaned up more than BP folks. And yes, it is pretty hard on some people. It is a very depressing place and I think most of you are aware of what depression can do to your life.

If any of you think that BP people are being cynical and just trying to "PR" our way out of this mess, I suggest you visit our command center here in Houston. Do it some Saturaday night around 3AM. There will be lots of people there. Oh, and why don't you bike or walk there. You wouldn't want to use any gasoline, because that would mean we have to keep drilling oil wells.

Tricky, I'm sorry I offended you. Of course there are decent people working for BP. There are decent people working for just about any company. I can't quite get into schadenfreude about the bankruptcy of one of my former employers because I know it means a bunch of good people are going througn a hard time.

And no need to create a strawman that I said anything about stopping oil exploration and production (I didn't, did I?)

But BP's record is not exactly golden.

As a southerner with a pretty pronounced accent myself, I resent it when people try to talk "lak me." Do I think that ad is cynical? Do I think it's exploitive? Hell, yes, I do.

And...well, what Cavemonster said.

Tricky, it becomes a question of who we're talking about when we're talking about BP.

Of course many of the employees, and even the highest levels of management may feel awful about this disaster and want to stop the damage as much and as quickly as possible.

Bt what remains, is that this same company downplayed threats when they wanted to get clearance to build these kinds of things in the first place, and that they did not have. They knew that that particular well was a risk and purposefully decided to sacrifice safety measures to cut costs


They lied about the extent of the oil spilling out.

The company as a whole has behaved dishonestly and destructively. And with these ads, they are attempting to co-opt the real human emotions of their employees to help quell consumer distrust and ultimately get people buying their product again. By buying their product again, you vote with your dollars for the people at the top who allowed this to happen.

Tricky, I am in no way questioning your sincerity in feeling terrible about this disaster, but I'm puzzled that you don't mind that sincerity being harnessed to try to save the higher-ups who created this terrible situation.

 

[TraneWreck]

It doesn't do any good with incredibly cynical people, but I think a lot of people out there don't realize that BP is composed of a whole lot of people like me and Darryl. We're not a bunch of faceless paper-pushers and we really do care.

[...]

I think, maybe a few years from now, when people can look back on this disaster without the harsh light of the TV cameras photographing the same dead bird thousands of times, maybe they will see it too.

We can separate your governing structure from the people who work in the company, just like we don't blame the soldiers for starting the wars in the Mid-East.

But what would really help BP in the PR department is not, say, lying about the amount of oil leaking from the pipe to limit liability (I trust your company's abilities enough to guess that they just didn't make a mistake and were thus off by a factor of 60-100). Or avoid lobbying for the release of international terrorists to secure drilling agreements. Or not running up 760 "Egregious" OSHA violations during the same period Exxon had 1.

I don't know at what level of the command structure folks start making the dangerous decisions, but a few commercials won't wipe away the record. We've decided that the primary legal obligation of corporations in the United States is to make money for the shareholders. I think that's a terrible decision, but fine, a lot of what went wrong in this disaster was BP pursuing their legal obligations (and skirting around some others). BP is obviously not remotely the only company doing this, they've just chosen a line of work that can result in thousands of people losing their livelihoods when something goes wrong.

But surely you can see why people are upset with BP expending dollars and efforts in a PR campaign, when dollars and effort could have forestalled this disaster. It's like a celebrity or politician going on TV and apologizing for cheating on their spouse: they're not actually sorry for the infidelity, otherwise they wouldn't have done it in the first place. They're sorry they got caught.

 

[WildCat]

As a southerner with a pretty pronounced accent myself, I resent it when people try to talk "lak me." Do I think that ad is cynical? Do I think it's exploitive? Hell, yes, I do.

Yeah, that British guy worked so well...

 

[Furcifer]

760 OHSA violations. This company has the option to adopt safety standards above OHSA standards and be exempt from inspection, and instead they have over $100 Million in fines, and quite likely Billions to pay to clean up the spill.

Whoever is responsible for making the decision not to adopt better standards, and not preventing these OHSA violations needs to be fired.

I know they are going to clean this up and I know they are going to pay for it. I want to know TODAY what they are doing to prevent this from happening and it better involve not getting any more OHSA violations.

My job as a Supervisor was to make sure there were no OHSA violations in my area. Before I turned on my computer I made sure there was nothing that could harm or injure my employees. If I found something I didn't leave until it was fixed. It had to be.

After the BP refinery in Texas City blew up on March 23, 2005, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, an independent federal agency, concluded that the disaster was caused by “organizational and safety deficiencies at all levels of the BP Corporation. Warning signs of a possible disaster were present for several years, but company officials did not intervene effectively to prevent it.

If this company can't operate a safe work place, it doesn't need to operate. Neither do any of the other refineries that got 1500 Serious Citations. The whole industry needs some drastic changes.

So the next commercial I want to see is "Here's our new Head of Safety for North America and Environmental Engineering, and they will be hiring a whole new staff to go around to our all of our plants, tomorrow, so this this won't ever happen again"

Granted OHSA isn't exactly related to what happened in the Gulf, but a company that doesn't care about its employees sure as heck doesn't care about the public or the environment.

 

[ponderingturtle]

I don't know about that ad, but I know about another one. It featured Darryl Willis. He's a geophysicist that I worked with in the South Louisiana group. That was about ten years ago, and Darryl has advanced pretty far. He's not a paper-pusher He's the head of an exploration team and is making quite a name for himself. And yes, he truly is from Louisiana (as many of BPs staff are) and that really is his accent.

And yes, many of us are working nights and weekends and doing scut work to help clean up this mess. There is nobody in the world who wants this cleaned up more than BP folks. And yes, it is pretty hard on some people. It is a very depressing place and I think most of you are aware of what depression can do to your life.

If any of you think that BP people are being cynical and just trying to "PR" our way out of this mess, I suggest you visit our command center here in Houston. Do it some Saturaday night around 3AM. There will be lots of people there. Oh, and why don't you bike or walk there. You wouldn't want to use any gasoline, because that would mean we have to keep drilling oil wells.

And have pipelines leak and refineries explode, because you know maintenance is expensive.

 

[Darat]

...snip... , but has come through with the information, the people, and the cash to try to deal with this disaster.
...snip...

As ever I would say follow the money - there has never been any sign since the disaster happened that something has been delayed because BP was slow or reluctant to pay for it, money has been flowing out of BP faster that the oil spill itself, I can't think of any other company that has ever reacted in such a way to a disaster of their own making. It's set a very high benchmark for other companies to be measured against in future disasters (and there will be future disasters).

 

[Darat]

And have pipelines leak and refineries explode, because you know maintenance is expensive.

In BPs defence this was changing, a few years ago it certainly was a company that I considered would rather pay out a few million because someone died in a preventable incident rather than commit to spending several more million to ensure the incident couldn't happen.