Running head: Crisis communication and BP oil spill
Crisis communication and the BP oil spill
Jordan Gallagher
Comm. 616
Queens University
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Running head: Crisis communication and BP oil spill
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Abstract
This research paper examines crisis communication, specifically focusing on how BP handled
their crisis when they experienced an oil spill, which in turn caused severe damage to their brand.
I will also examine how BP choose to display unethical communication when being faced with
pressure from the media. In terms of the unethical communication displayed, I will apply the
Business and Communication ethic guidelines in order to understand how BP should have handle
the crisis ethically. By examining this crisis and applying these guideline other organizations can
use this to benefit them in the future, when faced with similar issues.
Keywords: Unethical communication, ethical communication, ethics, crisis
communications, BP oil spill.
Running head: Crisis communication and BP oil spill
I.
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Introduction
On April 20, 2010, an explosion occurred on an oil rig for BP in the Gulf of Mexico. As a
result of the explosion the rig burned and sank to the bottom of the ocean, causing severe oil
leakage. After the accident occurred BP was faced with negative publicity from the media, which
resulted in instant damage to their brand. Unfortunately, BP decided to handle the crisis
unethically by altering photos of the oil rig spill, which then created for an unethical
communication crisis. Not only were they being faced with the bad publicity for the spill, but
they were also faced with negative publicity from major news networks for the photo alterations.
By altering the photos, BP handled the communication crisis unethically, which damaged the
brand even more than it already was. Loss of trust of customers is just one of the many reasons
why it is important to follow ethical guidelines which help organizations make their decisions.
When crisis occurs, it is important that the company’s public relation’s team responds in a quick
matter, as well as responding ethically in hopes to control the damage to their brand.
It is vital for the point of this research paper to examine why communication ethics is
imperative to have when crisis occurs. By examining the following sources, we can see how past
experiences with unethical communication can result in lasting damage to a brands face.
Organizations can look at past incidents such as the BP oil spill and use that knowledge of proper
ethical communication standards in order to prevent any future crisis from exploding any more
than it already will.
Brian Gogan examined and reviewed many different books pertaining to communication
ethics, thus making him an expert on the topic. One of these books, written by Alyssa Groom and
Janie Harden Fritz examined Communication Ethics in crisis. Not to my surprise the BP oil spill
was one of the examples the authors used to show this very topic. According to Gogan the
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editors of the book defined “crisis generally as anywhere a lived experience is met with
discordance that rends concordance.” (Gogan, pp.496) Gogan’s review of Groom’s book suggest
that crisis cannot be solved through templates, but instead should be guided by narratives that
provide us with decision-making skills. (Gogan, pp.497) Even though Gogan’s review mentions
the BP spill it does not actually say how these theories can be applied to actual event, thus
leading me to more research.
Crisis communication is becoming a topic that is studied more and more every day, due
to the lasting impact it can have on an organization. According to Mazzei and Ravazzani, writers
who have studied in depth about crisis communication, “The rhetorical, or text-oriented,
approach focuses on what and how an organization communicates when facing a crisis.
Rhetorical strategies allow for an understanding of communication strategies options. Whether or
not the organization has control over the crisis event, still it has to address its impact, in
particular on its legitimacy and reputation. (Mazzei and Ravazzani, pp. 321, 2014) This is
important to look at when analyzing the BP oil spill because it shows that BP was in control of
the aftermath of the crisis. Even though BP could not control the actual incident they still could
control how the situation was handled ethically.
In terms of unethical communication when crisis occurs, Duncan Koerber examined how
William Benoit and Timothy Coombs classified many strategies which should be taken in order
to control the damage. Benoit and Coombs’ goal was to “determine the best message responses
to prevent image damage and to repair images after a crisis. In the same vein, Coombs’ (1995)
work attempts to create guidelines for the use of crisis-response strategies. The goal, Coombs
argues, is that the response should seek to soothe the publics, not to antagonize them further.”
(Duncan Koerber, pp.314, 2014) This is an important quote when analyzing BP’s oil spill
Running head: Crisis communication and BP oil spill
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because it shows that guidelines are implanted in hopes that audiences will be “soothed” instead
of becoming angrier, just as the publics did when they found out BP was altering images on the
spill. (Koerber, pp.314, 2014)
An important source to look at when comparing unethical communication situations is an
article by Tom Watson. In this article, Watson explains how Ansett Airlines ruined their
reputation, due to unethical communication. In 1937, Ansett Airlines was grounded several times
due to safety inspections, which in turn bruised their reputation and left customers wondering
about the brand. It was later determined and released that Ansett Airlines had been performing
flights for more than twelve months, while knowing that their safety measures would not past
inspection. Even though Ansett Airlines made attempts to control the situation by having a
media conference, as well as advertising campaigns their company closed in 2001. This is
important to my research because it shows the effects that unethical communications when crisis
occurs can have on an organization. (Watson, 2007) According to Watson, “Additionally, when
crisis messages, such as that delivered by the Ansett CEO, were perceived as lies, anger resulted
and negative character attributions were made about company management. Such dispositional
attributions revealed strong negative attitudes to those companies caught lying and contribute to
the public's lack of trust in the integrity of organizations.” (Watson, 2007) This shows that the
customers of Ansett Airlines were worried less about the safety inspections, but more about how
the airlines handled the situation ethically.
Another interesting crisis that I found while researching is on the Phillips Petroleum
company explosion which lead to not one crisis, but three. This is example is very similar to
BP’s explosion which is why I think it is important to review it. Timothy Coombs, whom was
mentioned earlier, examines the attribution theory, which he exclaims is “perceptions of the
Running head: Crisis communication and BP oil spill
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causality of the perceived reasons for a particular event’s occurrence.” (Coombs, pp.267, 2004)
This means that people will hold those involved in the crisis accountable for controlling the
situation. According to Coombs, people will ask “Was the crisis something the organization
could control?” (Coombs, pp.267, 2004) Changing gears and looking at BP, was this something
that could have easily been controlled? Yes. Even though they had no warning of the explosion,
they could have responded ethically by taking control and responsibility of the situation.
So after looking at all of these sources one is probably wondering why I choose to
examine BP’s oil spill so closely. I choose to examine the BP oil spill for many different reasons.
First, I have recently formed a fascination with crisis communication, especially dealing with
popular stories in the media. As someone who stays up to date with current news, there have
been many times that I have wanted to research the crisis in better detail because of the lack of
true information the media provides today. In today’s society, everything is sensationalized,
blowing crises out of proportion. For this reason I wanted to dig into the past communication
crisis that happened with BP and learn more about the facts, which were not displayed on the
news. It is also imperative that organizations look at BP’s unethical communication mistakes and
take them and use them to better their own organizations.
For my Inquiry project specifically I will be examining the communication crisis, and
well as the unethical communication style that BP used when the crisis occurred. Once again, I
believe organizations could look at BP’s mistakes and use that to better their PR teams. I will be
applying Arnett, Fritz, Harden & Bell’s business and professional communication ethics
guidelines to determine how communication ethics can be applied in regards to BP’s oil spill.
The authors of our textbook outline the core values which are essential for withstanding damage
when crisis occurs. One can examine BP’s oil spill and the business and professional
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communication ethics guidelines and then determine where they went wrong ethically. As I said
at the beginning, BP’s first damage to their brand was the spill itself and then it was made worse
when they fabricated the truth with the photos.
According to Arnett, Fritz, Harden & Bell’s business and professional communication
ethics guidelines, “The key point is that an enduring company decides for itself what values it
hold to be core, largely independent of the current environment, competitive requirements, or
management fads.” As we previously discussed earlier in this course, values determine what the
“good life” is to certain people. The “good” is a phrase which can be very broad. In terms of
communication ethics though, the good is the image of BP. The good, or the brand can be
determined or changed within in a matter of minutes. This is why it is imperative that
organizations have a set ethical business guidelines to follow when crisis occurs. With the
business and professional communication ethics guidelines BP’s brand can be promoted and
protected, instead of damaged.
II.
Findings
In order to better understand what went wrong after the accident happened it is important to
look at the actual explosion in detail to understand where the organization went wrong ethically.
As I mentioned earlier, the explosion happened on the night of April 20th 2010. (BP.com)
Eleven crew members were killed as a result of the explosion, and many others were left injured.
After the oil rig burned for over 36 hours, it finally sank which result in hydrocarbons being
released into the Gulf of Mexico. After the explosion it was determined by underwater cameras
that the pipes were leaking oil into the ocean. Finally, on July 15, 2010 the pipe was capped.
Unfortunately, after 87 days of leaking into the ocean, over 3.19 million barrels of oil had leaked
into the Gulf of Mexico.
Running head: Crisis communication and BP oil spill
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The spill, which became the largest oil spill in history left the Gulf full of oil on top of the
surface, as well as below. On BP’s website they released a statement about their response to the
spill saying, “We acted to take responsibility for the clean-up, working under the direction of the
federal government to respond swiftly to compensate people affected by the impact of the
accident, to look after the health, safety and welfare of the large number of residents and people
who helped respond to the spill, and to support the economic recovery of the Gulf Coast’s
tourism and seafood industries impacted by the spill. We have conducted studies with federal
and state natural resource trustees to identify and define the injury to natural resources in the
Gulf of Mexico.” (Bp.com)
According to Ocean Portal’s website BP went to many measures to make sure that they could
clean up the water. Apparently it is extremely hard to clean up oil in general, yet alone 3.19
million barrels of it in the ocean. Because it was so hard to clean the oil up BP tried many
different methods, the first including using physical barriers. In hopes of preventing the leak
from spreading, BP arranged physical barriers such as floating booms in affected areas.
Skimmers, boats that skimmed the water from the surface were also used to gather oil from the
surface. Unfortunately, since the pipe had leaked such a high amount of oil into the Gulf most of
the water was below the surface, meaning the skimming process did not work as well as
anticipated. In hopes that the oil below the surface would be contained as well, BP used sorbents,
which are used like a sponge to absorb the oil. Many of the sorbents used were natural materials
such as moss, straw, sawdust and clay. Since the amount of oil on the surface was too large to be
controlled by skimmers and sorbents, dispersants were used as well. Dispersants are used to
break down the oil since oil does not mix with water. By breaking down the oil into smaller
portions it is easier to prevent large sections of oil from forming. (Ocean.si.edu)
Running head: Crisis communication and BP oil spill
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The spill which angered and concerned millions of people, left the environmental researchers
wanting to know the affect the spill would have on the marine life. It was very clear that the
animals of the Gulf of Mexico would be directly affected by the spill, as photos of oil covered
animals were released into the public. Pelicans, turtles and dolphins were just a few of the marine
life which were immediately impacted by the spill. Researchers later determined that many of
these animals were affected more down the road, than when the spill actually occurred.
According to Ocean Portal, "From 2002 to 2009, the Gulf averaged 63 dolphin deaths a year.
That rose to 125 in the seven months after the spill in 2010 and 335 in all of 2011, averaging
more than 200 a year since April 2010.” (Ocean.si.edu)
Amidst all of the attempts to clean the oil from the leak, BP had a bigger problem to worry
about. In July of 2010 a blogger uncovered a Photoshopped photo of BP’s command center,
which is used to monitor underwater activity. The photo, which had obviously edited using
Photoshop, made it appear that the command centering was monitoring more than they actually
were. BP then confessed that their photographer had unintentionally altered the screens in the
photo, to make the screens appear with an image. As every news outlet in the US picked up on
the altered photo BP made a statement to the Washington Post saying: “"He told me he was
simply showing colleagues how easy it would be to fill in the screens, and he inadvertently left it
in that condition. We've instructed our post-production team to refrain from doing this in the
future.” (CNN.com) BP also responded that the photographer had no intentions of misleading
anyone with the edited photo, but instead simply wanted to “enhance the quality of the photo.”
(CNN.com)
After it was declared that the photo was indeed altered, it was discovered that yet another
photo was being “enhanced” by BP’s photographer. This time, a photo from inside taken from
Running head: Crisis communication and BP oil spill
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inside a helicopter had been altered. The photo, which made it out like the helicopter was flying,
was actually landed on a control tower when the photo was taken. Unlike the first photo where
the photographer added things, this time he edited the control tower out of the photo, making it
appear that the helicopter was flying over the water scouting for oil. Already angered by the
initial altered photos, critics began to respond to the altered photos. CNN reported that Mugur
Geana, assistant professor of strategic communication at the University of Kansas responded to
the incident saying, “In non-advertising, public relations situations -- and the news media to crop
photos and adjust them for color saturation, contrast and brightness. But even then, he would
advise companies and media outlets to disclose the changes if they were sufficiently important.”
In Geana’s opinion, altering the photos saying, “Ultimately, that’s lying. He added it also
undercuts what should be a goal for companies—portraying a trustworthy image.” (CNN.com)
III.
Discussion
According to Ihlen (2009), “Crisis is often a result of poor communication between
organizations and its publics, and consequently more focus should be put on the precrisis phase
and on building and maintaining long- lasting relationships. In sum, communication between an
organization and its publics is a sense-making process where the society reality is constructed.”
(Ihlen, 2009, pp.43) In terms of BP’s oil crisis, BP should have begun establishing long-lasting
trustful relationships with their customers long before the spill occurred. There should have also
been a huge focus on precrisis and how they would handle the situation if it was to happen.
Unfortunately it seems as if BP did not plan properly for a crisis to happen, and as a result their
crisis was larger than it could have been. It is also important to emphasize that trusting
relationships should be formed. Even though BP may have worked for decades to establish these
relationships, all it took was one lie in order to ruin those relationships.
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For the point of this paper I believe it is important to discuss what forms long-lasting
relationships with customers. In communications having a set business and professional
communication ethics guidelines helps to guide the organization in the right direction ethically
using core values. According to Arnett, Fritz and Bell, “Core values are the organization’s
essential and enduring tenets- a small set of timeless guiding principles that require no external
justification; they have intrinsic value and importance to those inside the organization…The key
point is that an enduring great company decides for itself what values it holds to be core, largely
independent of the current environment, competitive requirements, or management fads.”
(Arnett, Fritz & Bell, 2009) Values, in my opinion, set apart successful organizations from
unsuccessful organizations. By establishing the values and following through with them, one is
able to instill trust in their customers by becoming an ethical person. Looking at BP’s
organization specifically, do their core values follow along with their ethical behavior? No. By
lying to their customers, not once but several times, the customers are left questioning their
ethical guidelines, as well as damaging their long-lasting relationship.
When thinking of the distrustful actions BP took when they decided to alter the photos,
my mind thinks of a specific quote. As someone who took many public relation classes as an
undergrad, the following quote stands out in terms of this situation: “It takes years to build trust,
seconds to destroy it, and forever to repair.” (Unknown) Trust is a peculiar thing, because it’s
true that one many spend years trying to form a lasting relationship with another, but that
relationship can be instantly shattered due to one unethical situation.
As discussed earlier the “good” in crisis communications is the goal to last which
requires protection and promoting of the brand. (Arnett, Fritz & Bell, 2009) Our authors, Arnett,
Fritz and Bell examine and distinguish how an organization can protect and promote the
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organization ethically. Change plays a large factor in business and professional guidelines, as an
organization must learn to embrace the change. When change occurs, which is often seen
through crisis, one must be able to have clarity of direction and the courage to change the
direction the organization is headed in. Unethical communication methods are when an
organization fails to commit to the change that the organization needs. (Arnett, Fritz & Bell,
2009)
One thing that BP could have learned from Arnett, Fritz and Bell is their definition of
“good people.” By examining types of good in people, one is able to understand the temptations
that make someone go from good to bad. An example of unethical temptation would be that of
the BP photographer. Obviously the photographer knew that the first photo was taken well from
viewers, thus tempting him to commit the unethical act of altering the photos once again.
According to Arnett, Fritz and Bell, “The reason for rejecting the temptation is that it does not
give one communication ethics literacy.” (Arnett, Fritz & Bell, 2009) This quote shows us that
temptations will only lead us to make more unethical communication decisions. Public
accountability is another large factor to consider when thinking about the unethical
communication decisions the photographer made. Since BP knew that the photographer was to
blame for the altered photos, the organization should have been held accountable for allowing
the situation to happen once again.
Direction is a topic that is discussed many times when examining the path an
organization must take to regain trust. According to Arnett, Fritz and Bell, an organization
should ask “What is the direction, and when and how should a given company change
direction?” (Arnett, Fritz & Bell, 2009) By looking at the direction of the organization, they can
determine when and where the organization changed their ethical standards. In a commercial BP
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produced, Tony Howard, CEO of BP apologized and explained the direction the organization
was taking in order to regain trust. According to Howard, “BP has taken full responsibility of
cleaning up the spill in the coast. We’ve helped organize the largest environment response in this
country’s history. More than 2 million feet of booms, 30 planes and over 1300 boats are working
to protect the shoreline. Where oil reaches the shore, thousands of people will clean it up.”
(Youtube.com) By providing this commercial, BP was able to share that they are moving in the
direction of change, and in order to change they are testing many different methods.
In order to determine the direction and change, organizations must use public testing. By
testing the methods of the organization one is able to see what works best for an organization.
Public testing is one thing that I believe BP did well when faced with crisis. In order to clean the
oil from the spill BP used many different methods, as I described earlier, which helped them to
find the best way to clean the oil. By testing each method, the organization was able to see
which method of cleaning would and would not work, which in the end determines the direction
of the organization.
IV.
Conclusion
In conclusion, crisis communications can have a large effect on any organization, but how
the organization decides to handle the situation ethically will determine the future of the
company. Even though BP’s oil spill was the first form of crisis that the organization
experienced, the second which was that of the altered photos, had an even larger impact on the
ethical communications of the organization. By altering the photos to appear as if they were
something else, the organization was ultimately lying to their viewers. BP could have looked at
previous organizations that experienced similar crisis communication incidents, which could
have helped them with their decision making skills when attempting to handle the crisis
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ethically. By applying the business and professional communication ethics guidelines BP could
have looked at where the organization went wrong ethically, and then used that to form a goal,
which ultimately would have determined the direction of the organization.
V.
Implications
Future organizations could learn a few things from the BP oil spill communication crisis,
which would help guide them to make ethical decisions. First and foremost, I believe it’s
imperative that an organization is truthful with their customers, after all the customers are what
help fund the organization. By being dishonest with the customers not only is the organization
making unethical decisions, but it’s also damaging the relationships with customers. Secondly,
when you have been caught in the act, just as BP was, admit it, and then never make the same
mistake. Unfortunately, BP did not learn from the bad publicity of the first altered photo, which
is why customers and critics were even madder when it happened several more times. Lastly,
have a pre-crisis plan. Even though BP had a pre-crisis plan for an oil spill, they did not have
one for a communication crisis such as the altered photos. By having these set guidelines, an
organization is able to reevaluate their plan, make changes and move forward as an organization.
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