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BP Asks Parody BP Tweeter to Come Clean... Again

by Amar Toor on June 10, 2010 at 02:45 PM

BP twitter
Last week, the person operating the Twitter account @BPGlobalPR unveiled him or herself to the world under the pseudonym 'Leroy Stick,' and went on to eloquently explain the motivation behind the satirical feed. Apparently, though, that wasn't enough to satisfy the parody-paranoid officials at British Petroleum, who have forced Leroy to officially declare that the page isn't linked to their dustbin of a company.

According to the New York Times, BP recently contacted Twitter to complain that the page did not comply with the company's parody policy, which dictates that all such handles clearly identify themselves as not being affiliated with their respective targets. Twitter then contacted the operator, and forced him or her to change the blurb, which formerly described the feed's aspiration to "get BP's message and mission statement out into the twitterverse!" Leroy duly complied, and, not missing out on the opportunity to take an extra jab at the universally reviled company, changed the page's description to read, "We are not associated with Beyond Petroleum, the company that has been destroying the Gulf of Mexico for 51 days." The page's author, however, assured the Times, "The changes we have made are the only changes we will make. If there is a problem, they will have to shut us down."

The real tragedy of course, is that BP actually felt compelled to do something like this. We all know the company's down in the dumps; its shares have crashed, it's facing criminal charges from the U.S. government, and it's been (justifiably) kicked around and spat on by everyone with a soul. But, when you're worried that readers might actually confuse an extravagantly absurd satire with your company's real message, you know you've definitely reached rock bottom. [From: New York Times]

Tags: bp, BP oil disaster, bp oil spill, bpglobalpr, BpOilDisaster, BpOilSpill, paranoia, parody, pr, public relations, PublicRelations, top, twitter

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