BP comms should focus on the environment
Posted on 24. Jun, 2010 by phaedrus in Communications, News
PR Week has reported on the BP oil spill, analysing the company’s recovery communications strategy. Click here to access the article. Aurora also wrote a blog post last week on what we could learn about social and traditional media in a crisis.
In another article in the same issue, a contribution from Solitaire Townsend, co-founder of sustainability communications agency, Futerra, demonstrates the importance of communicating the environmental impact of the disaster. Environmental impact is the top public concern regarding the oil spill, but, as she points out, while 69% said BP should take full responsibility for the spill, 68% said they would not boycott BP as a result and 61% said they would not turn to competitor products, highlighting the divide between principles and activism.
Ms Townsend also focuses on the value of the public communication forthcoming from the 3,000 survey respondents. Communication should, where possible, be a circuit, with all parties doing their share of speaking and listening. The public has been subjected to a mass of information on this subject from various sources and to understand the resultant public opinion is key to preparing further communication activities.
Aurora agrees with the Futerra position that the most significant statistic to be gleaned from the survey and incorporated into future environmental communications strategy is that 81% think that the Government and the oil industry should have been working harder to provide alternative, less harmful, forms of energy. If you believe that every cloud has a silver lining, hopefully this sort of public engagement in environmental and political discourse will help to nurture a society that cares greatly about sustaining the health of the environment and its inhabitants by preventing similar such catastrophes in the future.
What are your thoughts on principles vs activism?
Chiara
30. Jun, 2010
I like to believe that every cloud has a silver lining and it looks like several such clouds are drifting towards Deepwater Horizon as I type – tropical Storm Alex is looming. While this may see some elements of the clean-up operation return to port, the storm may well help break up the many slicks on the sea surface. Every cloud….
Once this epsiode has finally and successfully been resoved (hopefully very very soon), I’ll be fascinated to learn how much this has all cost. I wonder how many wind turbines or solar panels this sum could possible buy?