New York:
With corporate imbroglios now come online parodies -- sometimes very popular ones.
The operator of a Twitter account that exists to mock BP and its response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was asked by the oil company this week to specify that it is just kidding.
The anonymous operator of the account, BPGlobalPR, was asked Tuesday to modify the account to make certain that users do not mistake it for a real public relations account by BP. (The oil company's real Twitter account is called BP_America.)
The mock account, which is followed by almost 145,000 people and has received widespread attention, formerly claimed that it seeks to "get BP's message and mission statement out."
Not that anyone would believe that, of course. Among the more recent, more sarcastic posts: "Surprised ourselves by getting emotional on the coast today. Turns out the wind blew dispersant in our eyes."
In acceding to BP's request that it acknowledge it is just a fake, the account had some more fun at the company's expense. "We are not associated with Beyond Petroleum, the company that has been destroying the Gulf of Mexico for 51 days," it declared Wednesday.
A Twitter spokesman, Sean Garrett, said, "BP requested that the account holder be asked to comply with Twitter's guidelines regarding parody." These say that parody accounts should not deceive or confuse users.
The operator said in an e-mail message on Wednesday: "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 online eye-rolling about BP's request generated only more readers for the fake account. Perhaps wanting to return the favor, the operator tartly suggested that Twitter shut down BP's official public relations account because, he or she wrote, "no one can tell if it's a joke!"