Posted by on May 31, 2010 in Marketing | 1 comment

In 1989, The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound.  An estimated  10.8 million  gallons of oil spilled into the surrounding waters. Far from the largest spill, it created public outrage as the media showed images  salmon, sea otters, seals and seabirds covered in oil.   It was years before Exxon fully emerged from under the negative public relations created by the spill.

As I read the ongoing reports of the BP oil spill, which is now climbing the list toward the largest oil spill ever, and I watch the conversations in the news, and in social media, I wonder how long it will take for this company to recover?

Fueling the flame of negative public opinion are organizations like Greenpeace running a contest to redesign the BP logo.  These are just a few of the creative designs, expressing the anger and frustration building around the world.   With provocative and compelling images like these, will BP ever move past this as a company?

There are hundreds of designs in the flickr set, I expect there will be many more before this is over.

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  • http://www.mediaplug.biz Will Hardison

    Exxon was tarnished for a while because it took the CEO 2 weeks to even acknowledge the oil spill in Prince William Sound. I think BP will recover fairly quickly. I actually filled up on Sunday at a BP and didn’t even think about it until I was half way done filling up. Even then, it didn’t motivate me enough to stop pumping and drive to a new gas station.

    Companies do have to be more careful about mistakes these days with the power of the internet and social media. Campaigns against your company can spread like wildfire across millions of people over night.