The Gulf oil spill has been such a public relations catastrophe for BP that the oil giant now scores lower on a “buzz” index than even beleaguered automaker Toyota, according to consumer research outfit YouGov BrandIndex.
The company says it interviews 5,000 Americans each weekday and asks, among other things, “If you’ve heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, was it positive or negative?”
The results go into a so-called buzz index in which “[a] score can range from 100 to -100 and is compiled by subtracting negative feedback from positive,” according to the company. “A zero score means equal positive and negative feedback.”
Here’s BP versus Toyota over the past few months:
