BP Attempts Damage Control, Buys Search Phrases on Google and Yahoo

When the phrase oil spill is typed on Google or Yahoo, the immediate result guides one to BP’s Gulf of Mexico response, its official page dedicated to giving information about its attempt to curtail the spill. Search engines — especially Google and Yahoo, are the first point of contact for anyone looking for related information in a crisis situation. Thus BP’s PR strategy is pretty straight forward. While a host of companies resort to this strategy in crisis situation, BP has received flak from many critics who condemned the move as unethical