Interaction & Graphic Design
I will be honest, I did’t know much about BP before it’s “huge ambiental mess”, as this recent disaster has been named. I do know that BP isn’t 100% guilty of this mess, since no one can predict and accident of this proportion, nor predict that the tube to the oil basin would stay opened after the platform sunk. But since they are a multi millionaire company, it should have a department for oil accidents, and these guys should have some kind of backup plan. I am no engineer, so I have no idea about the physics and material implications, but a safety valve could have worked beautifully in this case, preventing that plug to keep leaking oil for a month. But I don’t know shit about this industry, so I have 98% of keep saying bullshit here, so I will just stop, and leave it for the professionals.
The thing that really caught my attention, was something that involved my work. Branding. BP have rebranded itself in 2000, claiming they were “Beyond Petroleum”. While less than 1% of their business were actually not petroleum and natural gas. They painted all their buildings in green, changed the logo to a nice greeninsh flower ( WTH, a green flower for a oil company?) They spent 600+ million dollars in this rebranding ( including ads, painting their building, etc. ).
With an expensive brand like that and a huge ambiental mess to clean up, I decided to help them, and I rebranded BP for free. It’s just a small change on their logo, I think it now reflects better their business. I hope you guys like it.
Recently the world is seeing a big trend for greener companies, and environmental care in all areas, but what we are seeing is companies paying huge branding bills so we, designers, can make them look green, instead of doing the right thing. Looking green won’t solve our problem. I don’t believe we will be able to revert the situation on planet, nor I believe we are the only cause of the global warming, but I do think we can slow it down and gain some time. But if the world doesn’t do things right, we won’t even be able to postpone our problems, and the world won’t be a nice place to live soon. Yes, I’m that pessimist, when I see lies all around us. And I couldn’t agree more with this Greenpeace activist. ( I don’t know who exactly said that to BBC UK, but I’d be happy to update this post with the right name.)
“This is a triumph of style over substance. BP spent more on their logo this year than they did on renewable energy last year, ” the environmentalist group Greenpeace said.
“BP doesn’t stand for Beyond Petroleum. It stands for Burning the Planet,” it added.
from BBC News UK
EDIT: After reading a bit more about the BP disaster, I found out that there were 3 safety valves in deep horizon. BUT none of them worked. So we need to ask a different question. Why none of them worked, and why there aren’t 20 safety valves since they aren’t that safe afterall.
You can see a timeline of BP’s tries at NY Times
Here you can see pictures of BP’s the disaster
muito bom, claudio. adorei! :]