Jill Monroe
06-17-2010, 11:05 AM
BP exec avows his compassion for 'the small people'
http://l.yimg.com/a/i/brand/purplelogo/uh/us/news.gif
Wed Jun 16, 8:01 pm ET
Whenever the Gulf spill fiasco enters into history, it will probably have a long afterlife in PR textbooks — as Exhibit A in how corporate executives should not talk about a crisis in public. BP CEO Tony Hayward famously remarked that he'd "like my life back" in a clumsy effort to emphasize that he understood how Gulf residents affected by the spill must feel.
And today, BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg did nothing to allay the company's reputation for an out-of-touch, patrician outlook.
After President Obama spoke with the press Wednesday about the escrow-account agreement his administration had reached with BP to compensate victims of the disaster, Svanberg — flanked by a smiling Hayward and other BP execs — stepped up to the podium to deliver some brief remarks of his own. In laying the groundwork for an apology to Gulf Coast residents on behalf of BP, Svanberg said, "I hear comments sometimes that large oil companies are greedy companies or don't care, but that is not the case with BP. We care about the small people."
You can watch Svanberg's remarks below:
BP CEO's remarks (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100616/ts_ynews/ynews_ts2651) (scroll down a bit to find the video)
http://l.yimg.com/a/i/brand/purplelogo/uh/us/news.gif
Wed Jun 16, 8:01 pm ET
Whenever the Gulf spill fiasco enters into history, it will probably have a long afterlife in PR textbooks — as Exhibit A in how corporate executives should not talk about a crisis in public. BP CEO Tony Hayward famously remarked that he'd "like my life back" in a clumsy effort to emphasize that he understood how Gulf residents affected by the spill must feel.
And today, BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg did nothing to allay the company's reputation for an out-of-touch, patrician outlook.
After President Obama spoke with the press Wednesday about the escrow-account agreement his administration had reached with BP to compensate victims of the disaster, Svanberg — flanked by a smiling Hayward and other BP execs — stepped up to the podium to deliver some brief remarks of his own. In laying the groundwork for an apology to Gulf Coast residents on behalf of BP, Svanberg said, "I hear comments sometimes that large oil companies are greedy companies or don't care, but that is not the case with BP. We care about the small people."
You can watch Svanberg's remarks below:
BP CEO's remarks (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100616/ts_ynews/ynews_ts2651) (scroll down a bit to find the video)