BP poured tens of millions into newspaper, magazine and TV advertising over four months. BP spent $94M on ads during spill

BP spent $93.4 million on advertising over four months as oil from its well gushed into the Gulf of Mexico, according to data provided to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The amount spent between April 1 and July 31 is more than triple the level the company spent on advertising in the same period last year.


"BP told the committee that they have increased advertising expenditures for a number of reasons, including to keep Gulf Coast residents informed of issues relating to the oil spill and recovery and to ensure transparency during the recovery process," Chairman Henry Waxman told Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), who originally requested the information, in a letter Wednesday. "For the period covering April 2010 to the end of July 2010, BP spent $93,429,175 on advertising. This is more than three times the amount the company spent on advertising during the same period in 2009. BP’s increased spending was almost entirely targeted at national and local newspapers and magazines and national and local television advertising. A small portion of the increased spending was targeted at Internet advertising."

The letter goes into great detail about how BP changed its public relations strategy in the wake of the mid-April catastrophe.

"With respect to television and radio spots, BP indicated that it aired fewer spots during the April-July 2010 time period than during the April-July 2009 time period, but a higher percentage were national and longer, 60-second spots," Waxman wrote.