Better Than The Real Thing
The guy behind BPGlobalPr has an interesting explanation of what he’s doing:
Why has this caught on? I think it’s because people can smell the bullshit and sometimes laughing at it feels better than getting angry or depressed over it. At the very least, it’s a welcome break from that routine. The reason @BPGlobalPR continues to grow is because BP continues to spew their bullshit.
June 3, 2010 5:08 pm
Posted in: Clown Shoes, Free Markets Solve Everything, Uncategorized
31 Comments
31 Responses
MattMinus - June 3, 2010 | 5:26 pm · Link
How long before they send this guy a cease and desist?
james hare - June 3, 2010 | 5:30 pm · Link
I don’t think they’re likely to send a cease-and-desist. He’s engaging in satire and it’s obvious what he’s doing. BP may not like it, but I think what he’s doing is perfectly legal.
Martin - June 3, 2010 | 5:33 pm · Link
If they haven’t by now, they’re not going to. Fuck, if vice grips haven’t already been applied to this guy, you’ve got to think that Twitter is a pretty bulletproof place to operate.
john b - June 3, 2010 | 5:34 pm · Link
@1 and 2
iirc, they already have. but i can’t find the link the now.
licensed to kill time - June 3, 2010 | 5:37 pm · Link
I’ve seen some very funny BP logo reworking. There’s one with a cat leaving oily pawprints and the BP logo is right under the cat’s tail, if ya know what I mean.
aliasofwestgate - June 3, 2010 | 5:41 pm · Link
I don’t think they can pull the C&D order, because its outright satire. Therefore its perfectly legal. They can try a C&D and a lawsuit, but it’ll likely be thrown out of court on that old law. (which sadly, i can’t remember the name of, dammit!)
ellaesther - June 3, 2010 | 5:45 pm · Link
A. This is very very funny and so appropriately horrifying.
B. Hey, lookee, even here I can obsess about the flotilla raid! Because there’s also a @IsraelGlobalPR Twitter feed that is equally funy and horrifying. The latest tweet reads: “Israel apologises for the death of a US citizen aboard the flotilla, however we must state that the individual was not white”
I kind of wonder if it’s the same person—on the other hand, that “s” in the “apologises” suggests to me that the IsraelGlobalPR person is English, and I can only imagine that the author of the BP/Cheney brilliance is American (he doesn’t say in the post you linked to).
Ah, mystery!
LikeableInMyOwnWay - June 3, 2010 | 5:49 pm · Link
What’s the joke? If they can raise BP’s public image to the level of Cheney’s and his 9% approval rating, they will have done BP a great service.
Steeplejack - June 3, 2010 | 5:56 pm · Link
@Martin:
That’s hilarious. Could almost get me to immerse myself in Twitter. Almost.
MikeJ - June 3, 2010 | 5:59 pm · Link
@aliasofwestgate: Not a law, but Acuff-Rose v Campbell would apply here.
aliasofwestgate - June 3, 2010 | 6:06 pm · Link
@MikeJ:
Thanks!
russell - June 3, 2010 | 6:18 pm · Link
“Sing me a song everybody knows
I’ll bet that it belongs to Acuff Rose”
Me gustas Leroy Stick.
PeakVT - June 3, 2010 | 6:21 pm · Link
I look forward to the TunchGlobalPR twitter feed.
ETA: The IsraelGlobalPR is goooood. To wit:
Israel reveals its new “Dome” plan in order to contain Gaza and prevent Muslims from leaking out
Litlebritdifrnt - June 3, 2010 | 6:24 pm · Link
For the totally unfunny part of this whole thing.
http://www.boston.com/bigpictu.....e_oil.html
This is fucking hearbreaking.
Derek - June 3, 2010 | 6:31 pm · Link
OT, but WHAT THE FUCK
http://gizmodo.com/5553765/are.....e-new-guns
mem from somerville - June 3, 2010 | 6:45 pm · Link
For another chuckle—Worst-Case Scenario from xkcd:
http://xkcd.com/748/
Just imagine Carville like that….
NobodySpecial - June 3, 2010 | 7:01 pm · Link
@mem from somerville:
He IS married to Matalin, so I imagine that’s a twice-a-week occurrence.
artem1s - June 3, 2010 | 7:02 pm · Link
@Derek:
guns don’t kill people, camera phones kill people.
Andre - June 3, 2010 | 7:18 pm · Link
There’s a really interesting breakdown of why BP bungled this so badly here.
Basically BP didn’t really understand Twitter, so they got blindsided by people who did.
Scott - June 3, 2010 | 7:20 pm · Link
@Derek: Man, I’m pretty much just sick and tired of cops.
Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle - June 3, 2010 | 7:25 pm · Link
@MikeJ: And don’t forget that historic case of Falwell v. Larry Flint.
Keith G - June 3, 2010 | 7:30 pm · Link
@ellaesther:
That was brilliant. Laughed so loud kitties ran.
Jenn - June 3, 2010 | 7:35 pm · Link
Hey, it looks like Harry Reid is moving forward with energy legislation that would also include dealing with oversight of offshore drilling. It may be some pretty good political maneuvering, we’ll see! Hopefully we’ll get some good energy legislation in addition to strengthened rules & regs.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.c.....024096.php
maus - June 3, 2010 | 7:37 pm · Link
@Jenn: Way to be slightly less of a fuck-up, Reid.
scav - June 3, 2010 | 7:53 pm · Link
He better up his game. The Real Thing is fighting back. When told to clean up the Chicago River, Daley went wackjob, told Obama to go swim in the Potomac, and now the water officials are intoning that a cleaner river would be a more dangerous one as children might swim in it and drown. Chicago is the only major U.S. city that doesn’t disinfect wastewater before pumping it into waterways. By this city’s logic, BP is doing the nation a public safety favor.
rob! - June 3, 2010 | 8:46 pm · Link
In the same vein, this.
WereBear - June 3, 2010 | 9:22 pm · Link
That is pretty dang awesome. Who knew Twitter would lead to such gems of short form comedy?
Oscarbob - June 3, 2010 | 9:31 pm · Link
I’ve been following the Gulf spill news since it started, and have been seeing/feeling it on almost the same level that the news of Afghanistan and Iraq have hit me. I live in upstate NY, I’m 54, and I don’t know anyone being personally affected by any of them. My thoughts are obviously shaped by what I read, and my opinions have been formed by an intellectual process, as opposed to any visceral connection to the actual events. Reading BPGlobalPR , I came across this link, and the guy singing sorta made the whole fuckin’ mess more personal, or at least something that hit me where all of the articles I’ve read seemed to miss. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du2O8MY5CrI
Of course, I am +6
Azelie - June 3, 2010 | 9:36 pm · Link
I want to draw attention to this link on the BPGlobalPR website – it’s a devastating song (seriously Springsteen-esque) that makes me think of my uncle and grandfather, who make their living on rigs because it was one of the few ways to make a decent living in Louisiana if you didn’t have a college education. It’s how they could buy a house, buy a boat and have a little time to engage in their real loves – fishing and cooking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du2O8MY5CrI
Alex K - June 4, 2010 | 12:28 am · Link
Well, maybe we’ll hear Tony Hayward saying that everybody can go fuck themselves. Or that they plan to torture the pelicans and alligators to find out who’s responsible for the spill. The possibilities are endless.
bjacques - June 4, 2010 | 6:22 am · Link
Torrey Canyon, by Serge Gainsbourg (RIP) is the gold standard of oil spill songs (there’s an English cover of it by Mick Harvey somewhere). He made fun of the vague trail of ownership and operation of the oil tanker that ran aground off Cornwall (UK) in 1967, spilling 919,000 barrels of oil.
1/4 of a Torrey Canyon (5000 bbl/day x 45 days = 225,000 bbl) and climbing.