bp Apology Commercial

bp CEO Tony Hayward released a television commercial this week to apologize for the oil spill and talk about how committed the company is to fixing the situation.

The court of public opinion has certainly weighed in, and no one is happy to say the least. Ironic because bp has made strides in evolving their brand over the last few years to be ecologically friendly and "beyond petroleum".

I can't comment really on who did what and who went wrong, but I can say that bp violated one key rule in corporate communications: get out in front of the story. The problem is that no one knows when this is going to end, and so it's almost impossible to feel good about anything that bp is doing.

So the apology is a nice step, but for the most part people are feeling like it's just a little too much spin a little too late in the game. I still give the guy credit for putting himself out there, but my desire is for bp to tell us when this will be over. Get out in front of the tragedy, rather than getting buried in the headlines!

If you'd like to see the recent commercial, click here.

What's your experience? Jim