America wants BP to be doing every little thing possible to make certain it is taking care of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill it caused. There was so much damage done to jobs, tourism and also the ecological balance causing every person to want the oil giant to pay. According to the London Telegraph, however, BP is spending more than $ 1 million per week in corporate TV marketing alone. BP's image to the world is much better with this. Sadly, the U.S. House of Representatives' Energy and Commerce committee expects more of BP.

Post resource - BP advertising budget exceeds $ 1 million per week

$ 1 million-plus per month for the past four months

There's been no response issued by BP although it has said it will cooperate with the House committee demands. There's been more spending on netweork TV, cable and radio advertising for BP. The money is cash that might be spent helping with the cleanup instead. Advertising is essential for BP right now. Sadly, $ 1 million a week is a "top kill" making it just a little too much. President Obama explained: "What I don't want to hear is, when they're spending that kind of money on their shareholders and on TV advertising, that they're nickel-and-diming fishermen or small businesses here in the Gulf who are having a hard time."

Gulf Coast region getting marketing

The cities that were directly hurt with the oil spill, all within the Gulf Coast region, are shown by Media Monitor to get probably the most saturation of BP advertising. The cleanup of the oil spill was advertised in five cities in Florida. Miami and Fort Myers are two of these cities that all were in the top 10 cities for BP to advertise at. Rep. Kathy Castor of Florida, and a few others, feel like BP can advertise as much as it wants. The gulf states are likely to be getting more tourism, including Florida. The advertising is making sure of that, although it may not really be helping BP's image.

Flow of info

BP's response to critics has been to reiterate that the purpose of its advertising is to assure Americans that the company plans to meet its commitments. The commitments are believed to be cleaning up the spill and servicing claims. BP seems to be keeping an eye on the bottom line right now though. How a brand is perceived is vitally important to that line, so don't expect BP to stop spending millions on self-serving advertisements unless Congress manages to shoehorn the disgraced giant into a confining set of orthopedic shoes with economically correct arches.

More on this topic

Telegraph

telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7969586/BP-to-admit-1m-a-week-advertising-spree.html

BP's ad campaign – an academic perspective

youtube.com/watch?v=t1lM2gtg1gk