Ah, social media! I love it that this guy is making money for a non-profit, all the while ridiculing the typical PR crisis-speak. Is this a great internet, or what?
As if the all-too-real BP oil spill weren't enough of a circus, a satirical Twitter account called@BPGlobalPR adds some dark humor to a sludgy situation.
The fake BP Twitter page was created a week ago and already has 42,000 followers -- dwarfing BP's real account, @BP_America, which has 5,700. The person pulling the strings of @BPGlobalPR, who refused to reveal himself or even break character in an interview with The Times, spills barrels of dark humor onto the international calamity.
@BPGlobalPR's fictional character, Terry, moves to stir up further controversy beyond the real-life disaster and so-far disastrous cleanup attempts that have sent BP's stock sliding 17.5 points since the April 20 Deepwater Horizon spill.Since then, we've seen a ludicrous parade of headlines, toxic name-calling, contributions from Kevin Costner and numerous TV appearances by Bill Nye the Science Guy, the children's show host who is apparently now an authority on the issue.
The @BPGlobalPR Twitter profile vilifies the company further. Some fan favorites from the Twitter page include:
Catastrophe is a strong word, let's all agree to call it a whoopsie daisy.
The good news: Mermaids are real. The bad news: They are now extinct.
#bpcares We just saw a shark fight an octopus inside the geyser. Almost made this whole thing worth it.
We tracked down the fictional Terry and had a chat via e-mail. Throughout the exchange, he refused to break character (or talk on the phone). He did, however, note that the project has netted more than $3,000 for the nonprofit Gulf Restoration Network through the sale of $25 "BP cares" T-shirts (in green and black, a nice mesh of the colors of money and oil).
"Companies screw up and then they hire folks like me to come in to make it look like they're doing something while they figure out how to make money again," the fake public relations representative wrote. "BP is doing everything we can to save our reputation and hopefully salvage some oil out of all this. We're making a ton of shirts and commercials about how we care, and I cleaned an ugly bird yesterday."
about whats going on down there. As far as the internet, which has pretty much turned mostly into a cyberbalkanization medium and toxic garbage heap of commercialization a few gems of art, creativity, and sincere effort are still around.
"We're making a ton of shirts and commercials about how we care, and I cleaned an ugly bird yesterday."
Thank goodness. I'm sure that those fishermen, hospitality professionals, and shrimpers that thought they were going to be wiped out will now take comfort in the honorable and just actions by BP and realize that they are indeed saved. Wow---what luck!
If BP had acted responsibly in the first place and placed safety over their obsessive craving for profits, this discussion would be completely unnecessary as would their idiotic T shirts and laughable and insulting PR campaign.
"We will find fulfillment not in the goods that we have, but in the good we can do for each other."
Robert F. Kennedy
and fundraising. It's not really BP, but a mockery of their attitude. S/he keeps offering 'free $25 tshirts'
It's not really BP. BP is BP_America
me-oww!
Good for these people to take a swipe at BP---and bad on BP for being the embodiment of greed and evil.
"We will find fulfillment not in the goods that we have, but in the good we can do for each other."
Robert F. Kennedy
This spill scares me; maybe because it’s in my back-yard, maybe because of the yet unknowns. The surface oil slick is reaching 100 square kilometers, and this doesn’t take into account the underwater plumes lurking just below the surface.
This isn’t Obama’s Katrina – this is the Nation’s 9/11 all over again – and I don’t think it possible to overreact on this one. I grew up fishing and swimming in the Gulf of Mexico and it is dying before our eyes. It’s just the beginning, and the oil is still gushing.
I want to wake up Saturday and find the well has been capped. I want the oil to sink to the bottom of the Gulf and disperse. I want the cleanup of the marshes to commence with alacrity and urgency. I fear these things I want aren’t going to happen. I fear the full wrath of the spill when the entirety of the oil reaches the surface and assaults our coasts. I fear the worst.
I recognize these tweets are funny – they are. The mermaid joke is cute. I hope the proceeds go to a good effort. Personally, I’m having trouble laughing.
and I'm frightened for all of us.
Taarak, your post is spot-on. My feelings exactly.
Wonder if Steve Cobert is behind these twitters. Since the twitter owner did not want a phone interview, maybe his voice is recognizable? This kind of humor sounds right up his alley.
I found another, ahem, "BP spokesperson" on youtube this morning. Not sure what this guy is supposed to be.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf1efDROFsY
Comments are closed on this entry