Visual Public Relations

8A visual history of BP’s use of public relations after Deepwater Horizon

Nick Lovegrove

Introduction

This chapter outlines the development of a visual research methodology based on a series of rhetorical pieces of design that explored how graphic design’s techniques of persuasion could be used to expose and critique the PR industry. This methodology was adopted and used to undertake a critical investigation of BP’s crisis management of the Deepwater Horizon accident. Using the firm’s own press releases, commissioned imagery and publicly available digital data a one-off publication was produced that acted as a timeline charting the company’s response to the disaster as well as its wider socio-cultural representation in the media. By attempting ...