The Matrix of Factors That
Shaped the Communications
in the wake of the
BP Deep-Water Horizon Spill:
Parodies
Parodies
• Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart
– Political satire
• South Park
– There’s no logic anywhere
• Top Youtube Videos
– BP Spills Coffee
– The BP Oil Spill Re-Enacted by Cats in 1 Minute
What do Parodies do
in the wake of the spill?
• Draws attention to the situation
• Lets the public know what is happening
– Overview or specifics
• Expresses and creates anger
• Downplays actuality of situation or downplays
peoples’ efforts?
• Allows people to formulate ideas by portraying some
ideas as totally unintelligent
KEEPS OUR ATTENTION!!!!!!
Stephen Colbert’s Take on the
Deep-water Horizon Spill
• Had a series on the events in the gulf
– Total of 30 episodes had clips involving the spill
• The Oil is Missing
• Mr. Colbert has one of the largest fan
followings (1.9 million followers on Twitter)
– Most reTweeted post of 2010
The Nuclear Option
BP Stock Sinks
Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill
The Oil Is Missing
• News
– 200 million gallons spilled? Workers picked up 250
thousand barrels of oily water in the week preceding
the show. That day, only 200 barrels were picked up.
– Because the oil spill in not a surface slick, workers are
having a hard time locating the oil
– Michigan pipeline bursts after Deep-water horizon
spill is capped
– New, minor gulf leak after Michigan pipeline is
capped
Mr. Colbert’s Theories and Plans
• Oil has achieved Whac-A-Mole Technology
• Petroleum Engineers must be armed with
giant foam mallets
– Continue to whack down leaks until the oil leaks
its way into a refinery
– “Hopefully, by that time, we’ll have won enough
prize tickets to trade in for some biodiesel.”
Jon Stewart’s BP Oil Spill Series
• Mr. Stewart’s most effective means of
communication
– Making target sound as dumb as possible to
influence his viewers’ opinions
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Stock price movement
BP’s commercials
Spokesmen interview about oil plumes
President Obama and government response ideas
Stock Price Movement
• Both Mr. Colbert and Mr. Stewart talked about it
• BP quote – “The company is not aware of any
reason which justifies the share price
movement.”
– BP’s stock lost more than half its value in 52 days
• Mr. Stewart believes “that apparently BP’s
greatest clean up efforts are aimed at preventing
‘factballs’ from washing up on the beaches.”
• Mr. Colbert – “82 billion dollars lost. God. It’d be
such a tragedy if any pelicans had BP stocks.”
BP’s Poor Job Informing the
Scientists…and Public
• Released a murky video 3 weeks after the spill
– Had an “HD” version the whole time that
scientists could have used to understand the leak
• Spokesmen Mr. Suttles
– BP denying the existent of oil plumes underwater
• Mr. Stewart had 5 different news clips citing
the existence of oil plume underwater
– Government confirmed that there is more than
one plume and could be up to the size of six miles
Oil Plumes
• “Government scientists have confirmed that
there are large plumes of oil under the surface of
the Gulf. On May 31st your CEO, Tony Hayward,
said ‘The oil is on the surface. There aren’t any
plumes. Is BP willing to admit it was wrong?” –
Katie Couric (ABC)
• Mr. Suttles – “We haven’t found any large
concentrations of oil under the sea. It may be
down to how you define a plume is here.”
• Mr. Stewart – “IT’S SIX f*%$!ING MILES LONG.
IT’S NOT EVEN A PLUME ANYMORE ITS LIKE AN
OILY…..SIX MILE THING.
Who Will Save Us?
• Skips over Mr. Obama saying “You had your chance.”
• Kevin Costner believes he has a technology that will
centrifuge oil and water (testifies in front of Congress).
• Senator of Iowa, Mr. Grassley, believes in pouring “beer
brewing ingredients” into the Gulf
– “He said that if you put the yeast from making beer into this
water, it will in fact, collect molecules and produce methane.
That’s actually not true. We double checked that with a
scientist.” – Reporter (MSNBC)
– Mr. Stewart – “Really? You had to double check that with a
scientist? You couldn’t know right away that was the
stupidest thing you ever heard?”
Government Ideas Cont.
• Nuclear option
– Both Mr. Colbert and Mr. Stewart talk about this solution
– (CNN) “The nuclear option. Actually using some kind of nuclear
warhead that would go down like a bunker buster and deflate the
oil reserves to the point that it would literally stop itself.”
– Mr. Stewart – “What could go wrong? Ya know what? I’m in!
Costner, saddle up. Cue the Aerosmith end credit song.
LET’S DO THIS!”
– In Mr. Colbert’s Crude and Unusual Episode he says “Sure its not
guaranteed to work. And sure no one knows how the radiation
would spread or effect wildlife. And sure it would violate
international treaties but come on. It would turn the bottom of
the ocean to glass (New York Times). How cool is that? And if we
nuke the sea floor and turn it to glass, we wouldn’t have to do
any more exploratory drilling. We could just see where it is. Push
the button President Obama!
South Park’s Unrealistic Episodes
• BP changes name to DP (dependable petroleum)
• DP opens a portal to another dimension
– “The oil company stated that it knew a portal to
another dimension was there, but didn’t think drilling
into it prove problematic.”
– “Tearing a hole into another dimension is a that should
have never happened” – CEO Tony Hayward
• DP’s CEO meeting
– More than another sorry campaign
– Ocean ‘s current and swells are too much to put
machinery
– Drill on the moon to reduce ocean’s effects
South Park Continued
• BP’s “I’m Sorry” videos
– Hint that BP isn’t doing anything about the spill
– Three in total:
• 1 for spill in the gulf
• 2 for opening a portal to another dimension
• 3 for drilling on the moon and releasing the dark lord
Cthulhu
What South Park Is Trying to Tell Us
• 3 Episodes were watched by 2.27 million
• Let’s the public know what happened
– BP doesn’t care about the environment
• Fixing disasters = “I’m Sorry” videos and more drilling
• Downplays human response
– Captain Hindsight
• 3 Episodes allowed public to be reminded of spill
thereby effectively keeping attention to the matter
Famous Youtube Videos:
BP Spills Coffee
• BP’s CEO spills coffee at meeting
– “Don’t worry about it. It’s a small spill in a very
large table.”
• Attempts to fix:
– Block with hands.
– Brilliant idea written on bounty paper towels.
• Cardboard box to cap that doesn’t work.
– Pour garbage in cups so that is stops spilling.
– Observe for 3 hours and reassess.
– Blame Halliburton for providing cups.
BP Coffee continued
• Attempts to fix continued:
– Everyone freaks out.
– Kevin Costner knows what to do:
• “Do you have a golf ball?”
CEO – “I have a ping pong ball.”
Costner – “Good. Now throw it at the spill…...What
happened?”
CEO – “Nothing.”
Costner – “You guys are f*@%ed.”
*Room begins to scream and panic*
End of Coffee Spill
• 47 Days later
– No one is in the room
– Mess isn’t cleaned
– “Public” is looking through window shaking his
head
What is the BP Spills Coffee
Trying to Tell Us
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Video downplays BP’s response
Overviews BP’s decisions to plug the hole
Expresses public’s anger with BP
Video was viewed 11.5 million times (3/6/11)
Famous Youtube Videos:
The BP Oil Spill Re-Enacted By Cats
• CEO, Advisor, and Caring worker are all Cats
– CEO to Carking worker (Cooper) when told about
spill
• “Blast. We mustn’t waste our precious oil on otters and
Mexicans Cooper.”
• CEO’s three ideas to fix it
– Topkil
– Junkshot
– Remind America that there are people we hate
more than BP
Methods
• Topkill – “Throw some mud on it.”
• Junkshot – “Throw some crap on it. Rubbish.
You know. Golf balls, hair, Lindsey Lohan,
whatever.”
• Remind America – “Probably the most
detested figure on the planet, the guy that
invented that facebook game, Farmville.”
Ending
• Parts I and II have reached over 780,000 views
• Ends with print
– “BP you’re not mad enough to not drive your car.”
– “BP c’mon. There’s stuff out there worse than us.”
“Ya know. Maybe we stop caring
about money for once. Maybe we
take every cent out of this company
and try to help the fisherman, the
poor people suffering. Maybe we fix
this Cooper.
CEO
HAHAHAHAHA!! Cooper
you’re so stupid. They’ll
need us again, until then,
whatever.
Ah Sir, Really?
Cooper
How do Parodies effect communications in
the wake of a disaster?
• Parodies display publics
feelings
• Great way of informing a lot of
people
• Parodies don’t tell you what to
think
– Let you draw your own
conclusions
– Study shows that Colbert’s and
Stewart’s audiences rank in
some of the most
knowledgeable
• Above Fox News in every category
• Pew Research Study
Sources
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http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/341500/july-29-2010/the-oil-is-missing
http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s14e11-coon-2-hindsight
http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s14e12-mysterion-rises
http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s14e13-coon-vs-coon-friends
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt617zYAbng
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bLQD7IhW88&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AAa0gd7ClM
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/16/daily-show-fox-knowledge/
http://ecopolitology.org/2010/12/14/twitter-king-stephen-colbert-celebrates-most-retweetedtweet-of-2010/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/11/stewart-on-latest-bp-deve_n_608716.html
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/312112/june-10-2010/bp-stock-sinks
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/308087/april-28-2010/gulf-of-mexico-oilspill
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/310039/june-03-2010/crude---unusual
http://www.ucbcomedy.com/videos/play/6472/bp-spills-coffee
Picture Sources
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http://www.experience-it-all.com/?tag=bp
http://www.morenewmath.com/253/drill-baby-drill/
http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/10/28/south-park-tackles-the-bp-oil-spill-video/
http://www.cinemasoldier.com/articles/2010/6/17/finding-nemo-meets-bp-oil-spill-funny-sad.html
http://the17thman.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/06/breaking-news-bp-kills-aquaman.html
http://www.octanecreative.com/ducttape/dtnews/dtnews.html
http://agreenliving.org/tag/oil-industry/
http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/jon-stewart-on-bp-now-theyre-just-waiting-for-aquaman-to-stop-the-spill-video.php
http://www.inquisitr.com/75528/video-bp-execs-spill-coffee/
http://forum.belmont.edu/business/2010/08/how_concerned_should_we_be_reg.html
http://www.green.tv/tremendousnews_bp_oil_spill_cats?set_location=en
http://www.socialtimes.com/2010/06/cats-re-enact-bp-oil-spill-in-new-youtube-hit-video/
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/08/stephen-colbert-gulf-spill-oil.php
http://www.barrymelroserocks.com/2010-archives/november/were-sorry.html
http://www.southparkstudios.com/search/?keywords=Coon%202:%20Hindsight&contentTypes=Video
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2xLHNV/xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/4320458/sn/98188779/name/bp%252Bspill%252Bsign.jpg
http://memegenerator.net/Tony-Hayward
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2010/11/10/got-an-oil-spill-south-park-says-call-captain-hindsight/
http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/colbert-its-bps-well-so-the-only-person-to-blame-is-barack-obama-video.php
http://www.indecisionforever.com/2010/06/04/stephen-colbert-on-the-bp-oil-spill-nuclear-option-which-is-literally-a-nuclear-option/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/FINN76/colbert-finds-the-disappe_n_665092_55501847.html
http://www.good.is/post/what-bp-should-have-said/
http://green.thefuntimesguide.com/2010/06/bp_coffee_spill.php
http://www.autoevolution.com/news/bp-coffee-spill-crisis-management-video-21360.html
http://jalopnik.com/#!5560756/this-is-what-happens-when-bp-spills-coffee
http://thebrandbuilder.wordpress.com/2010/05/24/living-in-the-past-working-in-the-past-how-not-to-get-brandjacked-like-bp-global-pr/
http://www.thechicecologist.com/2010/05/gulf-oil-spill-disaster/
http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/06/11/jon-stewart-exasperated-by-bp-oil-plume-denials-video/
http://evans-politics.com/noaa-bp-outright-lies-about-the-very-real-oil-p.html
Conclusion
• The single biggest problem in communication
is the illusion that it has taken place
~George Bernard Shaw
• How were we informed
– Greenwashing?
– Parodies?
– New digitalization?