Beyond Petroleum? Beyond Profit.
BP went to great lengths by spending 93 million dollars to recreate their image. They attached their brand to the newest fad of "going green". Attaching your brand to a cause or non-profit organization is called cause-related marketing. They revamped their logo to a green, yellow, and white sun and made their BP into a lower case and "less imperialistic" bp that now stands for, "beyond petroleum". This company expresses its corporate social responsibilities as taking care of the environment, but after the drilling disaster in April 2010, these responsibilities were put to the test. This is a very popular marketing form and thus, if done incorrectly, can irreparably damage an organization's reputation.
bp declared themselves as the first eco-friendly oil company. They left the Global Climate Coalition in 1997. This groups belief was that climate change remained unproven. bp was headed in the right direction. However, if you dig more deeply into the firm's past, they are liable for deforestation in Colombia and the murders of the local Colombian people who protested the company's environmental impact: it has been alleged that the company paid the Colombian military, a group that is held responsible for violating human rights and abusing the locals, to protect their assets. They have also been the cause of at least 104 oil spills in the pristine waters of the Arctic. Eco-friendly? Are you kidding me?
This is a facade that the company has created to enhance their reputation therefore giving them the leverage to charge higher prices, pay cheaper labor costs, and make their stakeholders (individuals directly affected by the company) and its consumers happy. However, due to the negative correlation between what the advertisements said bp was doing to help the environment after the spill and what they actually did, blew their cover and revealed that the only "green" bp cares about is money.