The BP oil spill—still going on the Gulf of Mexico—is one of the largest environmental crises in living memory. The Wall Street Journal reports that the cost to BP has reached an estimated $1.25 billion. Navigator is not in the business of capping deepwater oil wells, but we are in the business of helping our clients respond to crisis. So while I won’t comment BP’s efforts to stop the oil, I’d like to take quick look at their public reaction.

This spill is the worst public affairs and public relations crisis that BP has ever suffered, and their reaction to this has been laudable, stymieing and unfortunate all at the same time.

Let’s take a moment to take a look at the “Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” in BP’s response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The Good

On May 21, 2010, BP launched a live webcam from the floor of the Gulf of Mexico where viewers could see what a “containment dome,” “top hat,” “top kill,” the “cap containment system,” and ”saws” and “shears” actually looked like. Say what you will: in this regard BP has been forthright to rather remarkable extent. Can you imagine the US Army broadcasting a live feed from the cameras mounted on the heads of their soldiers in Iraq, or the Vatican allowing cardinals to live-tweet from the Papal conclave? In an era of obsessive media control, BP invited the world to watch something completely unpredictable, and where any and all failures would be freely broadcast. After all, the leak is at the bottom of the ocean, and it’s not as though most paparazzi have access to submarines.

BP has taken its largest disaster and put it online for anyone with access to the internet to watch in real-time.

The Bad

A Google search for “BP Twitter” in the first week of June 2010, would have brought up @BPGlobalPR. It launched at 1:07 pm on May 19, 2010 announcing that “We regretfully admit that something has happened off of the Gulf Coast. More to come.” This wry and sarcastic Twitter account, which notes that “Catastrophe is a strong word, let’s all agree to call it a whoopsie daisy,” has cleverly parodied BP’s tin ear for sound bytes (one thinks in particular of BP’s Randy Prescott who noted that “Louisiana isn’t the only place that has shrimp.” We’re sure that gulf coast shrimpers were thrilled to hear that). Indeed, on June 4, Newsweek reported that @BPGlobalPR had 116,000 followers, while BP’s official account, @BP_America, lags with a mere 10,000 followers (accounts continue to increase their numbers of followers at time of publishing).

@BP_America has done yeoman’s work answering questions from the public, interacting with media, and delivering news. However, @BPGlobalPR continues to beat them in popularity and make BP’s hardworking—if less creative—PR team look the fool.

The Ugly

Organisms throughout the Gulf of Mexico probably want their ecosystem back, gulf coast fishermen probably want their jobs back, and the tourism industry throughout Texas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida probably want their tourists back. What does BP CEO Tony Hayward want back? On May 31, he told Fox News, “I’d like my life back.” I mean really. The quotation came off as insensitive to the workers whose livelihoods are gone and the cleanup workers who spend their days saving birds covered in oil while Mr. Hayward continued to make his $4.8 million CAD salary. His intentions might have been good… but there is a very famous road which I am told is paved with similar intentions.

So where does this leave BP?

• Let’s not kid ourselves: their efforts to cap the gusher seem to be a dog’s breakfast;
• Their public disclosure and honesty has had moments of being impressive;
• Their PR team has 10% the audience of an online prankster ; and
• Their CEO let himself get pretty far off message.

It leaves BP with some bright spots and some real clangers. Let’s not kid ourselves, this crisis, and BP’s response, is far from over. So let’s hope for more good, and less bad and ugly.