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Jenna Van Wyk

BA 2996 Section 001 / Professor Renaud
Writing Assignment #4: BPs Oil Spill Response

BP Response Analysis

BPs response website to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill tries to communicate

why the 2010 oil spill happened and how they are continuing to restore the damage that

was inflicted. On April 20, 2010, a gas release and subsequent explosion occurred on the

Deepwater Horizon oil rig working on the Macondo exploration well for BP in the Gulf

of Mexico. The explosion claimed 11 lives and is considered the largest accidental

marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. Following the explosion and

sinking of the oil rig, oil flowed from the rig into the Gulf for three months. The gushing

wellhead was not capped until after 87 days, on July 15, 2010 (Adams and Gabbatt

2010). The total discharge is estimated at 4.9 million barrels, which is 210 million US

gallons (On Scene Coordinator Report 2011). BPs Gulf of Mexico Restoration website

uses these three strategies to try to repair its reputation: BPs website uses ample

financial data to clarify what they paid for in penalties and what they are claiming to pay

to continue the restoration in order to take responsibility for their part in the disaster;

BPs website uses optimistically titled headers and sub-headers to portray their

restoration objectives in a positive light, and BPs website uses colorful imagery in their

pictures and American values in their video to connect with the American audience

which the website was intended for.

In order to show its economic responsibility in the face of the oil spill, BP

presents has presented the financial penalties they have paid data on its their

Rrestoration website in an easy- to- access report that highlights the companys
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economic responsibility in the oil spill. For example, uUnder the sub-heading

Compensating the people and communities affected, BP provides public data updated as

of February 28, 2013 on the amount of financial claims they have paid to individuals and

local businesses as well as governmental and other agencies. As Coombs points out, that,

The organization needs to release updates on the recovery process and corrective

actions, in order to help repair its reputation (Coombs, 2007). Thus, BP continuously

updates their claims information so that to keep their audience better informed. aAn

individual who is accessing the BP website is able to find that exactly $8,748,551,683 has

been paid to individual and business claims, $1,376,009,917 has been paid to the

government, and $311,862,280 has been paid to other entities for a total payment of

$10,436,423,880, thus far (Gulf of Mexico Restoration Website). These numbers are

further broken down into smaller categories in the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Claims and

Other Payments Public Report - 2/28/2013. Making the data about their compensation

efforts public is BPs way to shows that it takes BP is taking responsibility for its their

role in the disaster by being transparent and want their consumers and shareholders to

know exactly how much money they are spending to restore their reputation.

The headings and sub-headings on the Gulf of Mexico Restoration website are

carefully titled with powerful verbs and nouns that portray the company positively in

order to take the focus away from the damage of the oil spill and onto the restoration

efforts. The headings of the pages contain the words: committed, restoring, supporting,

and response. The sub-headings contain the words: rehabilitation, promoting, recovery,

and community development. All of these words are tied to a positive connotation and

focus on the constructive work the company is doing, not the negative impact the oil spill
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had on the Gulf. For example, the heading of the first page on the sidebar is Committed

to the Gulf. Commitment is defined as an agreement or pledge to do something in the

future, especially, an engagement to assume a financial obligation at a future date,

(Merriam-Webster). BP is trying to persuade the readers that they are going to keep up

their restoration efforts in the future and intend to carry out what they have promised to

the people and communities in the Gulf. The reader can gather this information simply

from the word committed. The use of positively worded headings and sub-headings sets

an optimistic tone for the information contained within the heading.

The 17 visuals used within the restoration website appeal to the audience with

colorful images and a video that reflects American values. Every picture and video

contains vibrant color, which is aesthetically pleasing to the reader. 8 of the images depict

scenes of nature, particularly clean beaches and water, in order to depict that BPs efforts

to clean the Gulf and surrounding communities have been effective. The main video

under the Committed to the Gulf page is the best example of BP targeting their

American audience. The speaker in the video is BP Operations Manager, Fred Lemond,

who is an American that grew up on the Gulf Coast. BP is a British multinational oil and

gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is important to note and

understand why they employ an American as the speaker of the video, not one of the

British owners. The reader is persuaded to feel that Lemond is a more credible and

trustworthy source than a British spokesperson because he grew up on the Gulf Coast and

understands what Americans living in the communities affected by the spill want and

need to hear. On a deeper level, Lemonds southern American dialect makes a stronger

connection with the American audience than a British accent would. BP strategically
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chooses everyday American employees to be spokespeople for the restoration project to

gain back the trust of their customers.

BPs Gulf of Mexico Restoration website effectively uses financial data to

make transparent their responsibility in the disaster, powerfully titled headers and sub-

headers to positively display their restoration efforts, and pleasing imagery in their

pictures and American themed videos to gain back the trust of the American audience

which the website was intended for to restore their reputation. Coombs explains,

Stakeholders, including the news media, will turn to the Internet during a crisis. Crisis

managers should utilize some form of web-based response or risk appearing to be

ineffective, (Coombs 2007). BP has utilized an interactive and easy to comprehend

website to deal with the crisis which appeals to not only the shareholders and

government, but also to the individuals and communities of America. It is clear that BP

has strategically designed their website to keep the audience engaged in their restoration

efforts and less-focused on the Deepwater Horizon spill investigation. Of the nine links

on the sidebar of the main website the seventh and eighth are the only ones that deal with

the accident itself. It is no mistake that BP wants the people who visit the site to look at

the positive links and not the negative so they place the accident related links at the end.

The overall focus of the restoration website is to repair BPs reputation through positive

projects rather than extensive apology for the disaster.

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References

Adams, Richard and Adam Gabbatt (2010, September 8). BP oil spill report as it

happened. The Guardian. Retrieved March 27, 2013, from

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/sep/08/bp-oil-spill-report-live.

Commitment Definition. 2013 Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. Retrieved March 27,

2013, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/commitment.

Coombs, W. Timothy. (2007, October 30). Crisis Management and Communications.

Retrieved March 20, 2013.

Gulf of Mexico Restoration Website. BP. Retrieved March 24, 2013, from

http://www.bp.com/sectionbodycopy.do?categoryId=47&contentId=7081352.

On Scene Coordinator Report on Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (Report). September 2011.

Retrieved March 26, 2013.