Tony Hayward, BP CEO, Is A PR Rep's Worst Nightmare

DailyFinance:

BP's (BP) CEO Tony Hayward is the type of executive who makes his public relations staff grab a fistful of antacid tablets (or perhaps a shot of whiskey) every time he opens his mouth. No one ever knows what thoughtless or inappropriate remark he'll make.

Read the whole story: DailyFinance

Comments

[larry278]

02:58 PM on 05/21/2010

2 do PR 4 BP, ware an international orange burqa & a bag over ur head.
Doing PR 4 BP is like bing the guest of honor an outlaw cycle clubs weekly gang bang.
that's the ad game 4 u.
it ain't as easy a pimping 4 minor. ad people r loathsome, worn out cheap condoms on there nonexistant good days.

[bthechangeyouseek]

11:56 AM on 05/21/2010

I would rather see his "true colors" than corporate spin. Apparently he is very disconnected to the planet he makes a living from.

[blueken]

11:36 AM on 05/21/2010

Public Relations? You are fouling hundreds of miles of pristine coast line, how do you put a spin on that? Oh yes, destroying the planet, but he is a jolly good fellow, don't be too hard on him. How about a picture of him with his sleeves rolled up sitting at a desk with stacks of paper? Spritz a little water on his forehead so it looks like he is sweating. There, that should do it.

[Daisytoo]

10:39 AM on 05/21/2010

The mantra of the Left: "Where's a good PR man when we need one?"

[blueken]

11:37 AM on 05/21/2010

So you think the left is responsibe? I've been waiting for that, but wait Rush Limbaugh beat you to it. He thinks the Sierra Club is responsible. The Rainbow coalion did it to protest the high cost of KY jelly.

[peacepilgrim77]

10:29 AM on 05/21/2010

This is like an act of war
a foreign company came ashore and killed people and wildlife
worse than murder, they killed the family life and the wage earning ability of people
and most of all
took away their hope
these long suffering Louisiana people just about got two nickels together to get up on their feet after the horror of Katrina
now this
I actually do not know how they can even do it

[bthechangeyouseek]

11:58 AM on 05/21/2010

The strength of the human spirit perseveres in the most unlikely circumstances.

[Margo Arrowsmith]

10:12 AM on 05/21/2010

#19

[suzc]

10:07 AM on 05/21/2010

I've been thinking.
Since corporations are "persons," and since these "corporate persons" OBVIOUSLY commit rape (of the earth, land and sea) and murder (not just of entire ecosystems and the oceans but of entire families and communities), then I say we press charges against them for their crimes and try them, in the persons of their officers and directors and maybe even major shareholders.

After all, if they're persons and commit violent crimes, they should be able to be tried, convicted and imprisoned, right? If you're a person, you get the whole shebang with your personhood!

[Margo Arrowsmith]

10:09 AM on 05/21/2010

#70 They are only persons when they want to be. Nice gig, huh?

[suzc]

10:35 AM on 05/21/2010

Nice gig, yep!
I think maybe it's time we changed all that!
I've often said once examples are made of a few, the rest get into line.
Since there is no shame among any of these thieves and killers, we must simply give them some severe consequences. Same is true for Wall St. (Not to mention DC).

[werbenjagermanjensen]

09:56 AM on 05/21/2010

In the twenty-first century, I think it's a given that any individual who's risen to the executive level in a major corporation must be a psychopath. CEOs aren't hired because they're great leaders, or committed to the highest standards of honesty and integrity, or know how to build and grow a company that's the best in its field at providing excellent products and services. They are valued and rewarded precisely according to how greedy, ruthless and heartless they can be. They are expected to be able to lay devastation to the lives of untold people without a thought so long as there's a good cost-ratio balance involved. And they certainly don't have to be well-spoken or well-behaved. That's why they have PR staff, to figure out ingenious ways to cover for them. And as we are seeing right now the system is working fine for them.

[suzc]

10:01 AM on 05/21/2010

I, on the other hand, think it's as likely to be the Peter Principle in action... and often nepotism. White men have been promoted to power by other white men for a few hundred years. They like the system. (When they promote a woman, she has their ethics and abilities; cf Carly Fiorino.)

I don't think they're psychopaths OR sociopaths. I think they're greedy ba_sta_rds!

[Margo Arrowsmith]

10:11 AM on 05/21/2010

werben, I don't think its 100% yet, but that is definitely the trend. But there are still some decent ones. A few.

[BlueDog1]

09:54 AM on 05/21/2010

I think everyone needs to take into consideration that when ones head is so large, it can cause you to have headaches and be little pisser.

Just another spoiled juvenile MBA raping the investor community.

I sold my stuff

[idyl]

09:48 AM on 05/21/2010

Nah ... you don't get to his position (as head of one of the world's largest companies) by being a rube. Everything he does has a purpose ... advisers writing briefing materials, and a team of lawyers and PR specialists behind it. It sounds like the classic "good cop bad cop" to me. The press is chomping on the bit for a story, nothing is coming out of unified command (data is extremely hard to come by), so you have a buffoon in a distant office spouting off and sponging up lackluster media attention (drawing people's ire in a different direction). He's just being a distraction, and if we're focused on him, we aren't looking at ourselves, or the story that is evolving daily on our shores. One could even say "the medium is the message," and that it is the coverage that is the focus of attention. And meanwhile, nobody is asking the hard questions why we drill in the Gulf in the first place, and when we will start acting upon better alternatives.

[blueken]

11:41 AM on 05/21/2010

Sounds about right, a devirsionary tactic.

[KCFreedom]

09:44 AM on 05/21/2010

He needs to follow Lee Raymond's example and put on some mega-pounds.

Then we can use him to plug the hole in the Gulf.

[G FORCE]

03:20 AM on 05/21/2010

FIRE THIS GUY!

[SolarArray]

01:40 AM on 05/21/2010

I'm sure he will be modest in jail.

[shivers]

02:14 AM on 05/21/2010

if by "jail" you mean a fifth house in the Caymens, a golden parachute, and tax shelters enough to shelter all money from the IRS, then you're right on the money.

[2CLEVER]

09:06 AM on 05/21/2010

so he made one mistake...he was great in Frost/Nixon

[jb6789]

11:57 PM on 05/20/2010

BP is America's partner and friend. When Iran thru BP out in the early fifties to nationalize oil assets, we came to BP's rescue. Yes, our CIA financed the effort to undermine Iran's DEMOCRATICALLY elected president so that the Shah could be reinstated as head of state and BP's puppet in chief. Dick and George did a great job helping BP build its business in the Gulf. They've had some hick-ups for sure (Texas Refinery, a leak in the Gulf, etc.) but they'll recover. I think the Oil situation in the Gulf is overblown...when the hurricanes come and deposit all that oil (not already confined to beaches, wetlands, and the sea floor) deep with the Southeast...it will help us fight corrosion of our cars and bridges. See, BP is our friend!

[moutonnoir]

12:13 AM on 05/21/2010

Good points! The oilly sheen that makes ducks, beavers, and other such creatures so attractive and water resistant could do us all some good as we are all slowly forced from our homes and property in favor of some bank's illegitimate claim to our deeds.

[cavegal]

02:21 AM on 05/21/2010

Moutonnoir, may I say that was an excellent turn of phrase!!

[I-US]

12:17 AM on 05/21/2010

Strangely, it was difficult to separate out your brief history of our relationship with BP from our brief history with Vietnam and Afghanistan....

[laaambchop]

07:07 AM on 05/21/2010

Things that make you go, "hmmmmmm"...

[McFarlandProps]

09:54 AM on 05/22/2010

. . . or South and Central America.

Give a CIA agent a suitcase of $20 bills and drop him in-country and he can topple a government in 2 weeks.

Heard that from one who used to do it in the 70s. Although they called it "selling typewriters".

[Polish Scholar]

11:13 PM on 05/20/2010

Simon Cowell of BP.

[cavegal]

02:23 AM on 05/21/2010

Excellent comparison!

[bthechangeyouseek]

12:03 PM on 05/21/2010

Why?