‘Small People’ Remark More Evidence of Big PR Problem

The (PR) hits just keep coming:

BP’s chairman has apologized for saying the company cares about the “small people” of the Gulf Coast hit by the oil disaster — a comment met with anger by those who say they are tired of the company’s executives making insensitive remarks.

On Wednesday, Carl-Henric Svanberg told reporters in Washington: “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.” He later said he was sorry for speaking “clumsily.”

Okay, fair enough, English is not his first language, but this does not excuse his PR people–who should have vetted his remarks prior to the press conference. Certainly, CEOs can be intimidating and unwilling to do such things with underlings, but after the previous disasters it would have been prudent. I have worked as a public relations adviser in incidents of much less import and certainly  a lower scale emergency, yet I insisted my boss go over his talking points with me prior to the interview. It’s what a public relations professional is supposed to do. Anything else is careless, spineless or just plain malpractice.

Also, remember when we said foot-in-mouth disease sufferer and BP CEO Tony Hayward should “take one for the team” and resign? How about another reason:

Of course, there is something to be said for taking a moment or two to “get his life back.”

Just a stunning lack of competence on the part of the BP P.R. team. I hate to pile on, but there’s just no excuse.

The disaster continues.