Gem of the day

Let's take a step back in time to review what Dudley said as the door slammed on Hayward on his way out:

"I am honoured to be given the job of rebuilding BP's strengths and reputation"

What he means: by focusing on rebuilding reputation, BP can regain its mandate to continue business as usual. Oil, oil and more oil.

And just for funsies, here's a few highlights from the most recent superficial commentary on BP's reputation (yes, it's still churning through the blogosphere):

-"Can BP kill their oil spill by Tuesday and save their reputation?"
"If BP, under new leadership, can finally put a stop to the leak it will be a great start to Bob Dudley’s new role and could see a marginal increase in support for the harassed oil firm."

-"BP Boss Hayward Treated As Spill 'Villain'"
"In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Mr Hayward said he did everything possible...BP's reputation-building in the US would take time, he thought. 'In America, the road back will be long but I believe achievable when the whole truth of the accident finally emerges and the Gulf coast is restored. BP can rebuild faster in America without Tony Hayward as its CEO', said Hayward."

-"Re-writing the CEO Job Description to Ensure Reputation Protection"
"The role of the CEO in reputation protection has been headline news as the BP crisis rumbled on and Tony Hayward excelled in the role of pantomime villain."

Bonus gem

Instant gem, courtesy of Solitaire Townsend: BP is hiring. The position? Director of Media Relations, Gulf Coast Restoration.

There's two highlights here:

1. They're looking for someone who has, amongst other traits, 'sense of urgency and resilience'
2. They spelled 'stake holder' incorrectly. Enough said.

Bonus gem

We can always count on the New York Times for two things: snarky comments hidden deep in most of the articles, and unintentionally ironic quotes.

Here's one about BP's 'game-changing' replacement of Hayward:

"The change in leadership did not alter the tone at the top of the company. On Tuesday, Mr. Dudley, just like Mr. Hayward, insisted that BP had not been negligent in its offshore operations."

And what did Dudley say, exactly?

“It’s a very complicated industrial accident,” Mr. Dudley said during a telephone interview with reporters. It resulted from “a series of individual misjudgments by very experienced people and a multiple series of failures of equipment and processes of using equipment that is going to involve multiple companies here.”

You're right Dudley, it is a very complicated accident. But it didn't result from a series of 'individual misjudgements', that's for sure. Try a two decade-long record of total disregard for environmental and social impact, including the largest fine in the history of the US OSHA. for lack of compliance.

I'm just going to go ahead and state the obvious: Dudley is a dud.

Gem of the day

Today, a stunningly coordinated performance by Greenpeace UK as strategic teams shut down BP petrol stations across the country.

But for the actual gem, well, here it is (don't worry mates, BP is on top of these shenanigans):

‘BP has said that it is aware that some "irresponsible acts" have taken place and there has been "some interference with safety equipment".’

Bonus bonus gem

Can someone please clarify for me why BP has yet to update its Twitter feed from what is pictured above. Isn't the whole purpose of Twitter to provide timely, short updates on key decisions? Decisions such as, I don't know, replacing the CEO of BP? According to the New York Times, certain management decisions have, indeed, been made today...

Gem of the day

Marketing Magazine continues to deliver gem after gem. Today, we are served up this beauty:

"Pepsi's BP oil spill activity praised by CSR experts"

Let's take a step back and recall just what the parameters around the Refresh Project submissions were for the Gulf of Mexico addition:

"There are a number of requirements for potential ideas--most notably, they can't be related directly to environmental impact and clean-up efforts. Instead, projects have to impact local communities and be executable within a year."

No environmental benefits? So what is so laudable about these Kumabayah-singing initiatives? According to the 'CSR experts':

"They aren't over-reaching or over-sentimentalising. There are no photographs of birds covered in oil or ruined beaches or stars and stripes."

And, wait for it, the clincher:

"In CSR in general honesty is the single most important element of any branded work."

Gem of the day

The superficial BP commentary continues to spew. Here's an analyst quoted in today's New York Times, completely missing the point:

Bruce Lanni, an energy portfolio strategist at Nollenberger Capital Partners, said the fact that no more oil was spilling the gulf was “an inflection point” for BP.

“There are a lot of good things now going in BP’s favor,” Mr. Lanni said. “There has been an overreaction to the cost of the spill. BP has the opportunity to emerge as a stronger company. I think this is where investors are missing a window of opportunity.”