BP's reputation vs the world

BP CEO, Tony Hayward, said in a recent Today Show interview that he ‘wants his life back'.

I'm sure he does. The demands of a corporate leader are immense at the best of times, let alone when every camera, blogger, whale-hugger, and US President is hanging on your every move and word until you fix the worst environmental disaster is US history.

Hayward later used Facebook to apologize to the families of the employees that were killed when the oil rig originally blew. I'm sure the 140 characters of Twitter would have limited his sincerity...

BP's CEO has been described as youthful, engaging, and dynamic, but at this point I’ll bet he wants to crawl under a rock. President Obama and the entire US media want him to be the foreign scapegoat that acts not only as a blame target for the mess, but a soapbox from which to shout partisan messages to a shocked and attentive audience.

BP really has no say in the matter. Whether they spend billions on stakeholder outreach and media relations, continue to run ads that say 'We will make this right', or give everyone in America a $5 gas card, it doesn't matter.

The only way to stop a crisis is to end what started it. Stop the oil spewing into the ocean, then start talking about clean-up and making everything right. Until the oil stops, nothing you say will be heard.

But does it matter? If 25 percent of Americans chose not to use oil or gas, not drive cars or trucks, and not support BP and its peers because of this incident the message would be heard boardrooms around the world.

But the likelihood of even 1 percent of 1 percent changing their consumption habits is about as probable as Tiger Woods ever again truthfully saying to a woman ‘I've never done this before'.

The majority of consumers care about the environment until it affects their daily lives, then they go about making choices based on convenience and price.

Although this disaster is having an enormous negative impact on BP’s reputation, in the long run, they won’t see a major effect to the bottom line as there are some commodities that are sheltered against even the worst meltdowns.