Youtube apology campaign
More and more companies use social media and in particular Youtube to apologize to their customers and as a key tool in crisis management:
- KLM’s President and CEO Peter Hartman apologized due to the unprecedented ash crisis in Europe
- Toyota commercial director Jon Williams explaining just how sorry he was about all the drama they have been having over the last couple of weeks with recalls of their cars
- The Domino Pizza incident where two of its kitchen staffs deliberately contaminated the pizzas and posted the video in YouTube created a huge drama in the media, including the social media. The CEO apologized via YouTube
- Lexus Group President and General Manager Mike Templin recorded a personal message on YouTube for their customers, in response to Consumer Reports’ review of the rollover risk of the GX 460 SUV
Since the Gulf of Mexico oil spill began on 20 April, BP has been getting a lot of negative press, has been the butt of many YouTube parodies and has been generally lambasted on Twitter, Facebook and the rest of the Web:
- Attacked on Facebook by a boycott movement called “Boycott BP,” urging a worldwide boycott of all BP brands and services
- An anonymously managed Twitter account – BP Public Relations (@BPGlobalPR) – that makes glib comments, purportedly on BP’s behalf
Now the turns comes to BP’s CEO Tony Hayward. The videos include a formal apology: “The gulf spill is a tragedy that never should have happened ….. To those effected and your families, I’m deeply sorry.” Hayward talks about what BP is doing to help solve the crisis, protect the shorelines and clean up the mess.
Comments have been disabled on Hayward’s apology video, but that hasn’t stopped YouTube users from responding with their own video clips.
Maybee it would have been appropriate to apologize for the things he had said earlier:
“The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume” (Source)
“I think the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to have been very, very modest.” (Source)
What do you think of Hayward’s Youtube apology?
Short URL & Title:
YouTube apology campaign — http://www.torbenrick.eu/t/r/weq
At least with this video they are finally taking full responsibility of this tragedy. However I agree that he should have start apologizing about his comments in the past that had offended so many people, like the atrocious “I’d like my life back”. My first thought was that his life can be back easily, however, people would also want a clean ocean back. I thought that his comment about that he believes that “the impact of this disaster is very modest and the Mexico Gulf is a big ocean” was completely out of place, how is possible this kind of response when the environmental, economic consequences can’t be calculate yet. I believed that BP should take advantage of social media, interacting more with people through twitter or facebook. The image that they could project with the lack of communication is they don’t care what people need to say. They post their videos, comments, etc.; but do not accept any feedback. I’m aware of the amount of angry comments they would receive if they do so, but it should be part of their social media plan.
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