Background – Corporate identity has emerged as an interesting subject. Companies’ care about how people perceive them and it is important for companies that people have a good impression about them. Catastrophes and other happenings can seriously harm a company. Corporate identity is concerned with the personality of the organization. It is designed to help the organization to achieve its goals. The term is rather complex and contains many different aspects.

One of BP’s oilrigs in the Gulf of Mexico sank due to an explosion. It became an environmental catastrophe with oil spread over gigantic areas. BP was accused of acting slowly and preventing media to reach the polluted beaches. Further, they have also influenced the search results on Google.

BP has created a bad reputation in the market due to the way they have been handling the oil spill. The public has started to question the actions by BP and they have started to express opinions about the company.

This study will cover the different expression the public opinion has been taken against BP. Further, it will cover how those impressions have been affected the corporate identity of BP.

Purpose – The aim of this study is to measure if and to which extent BP’s Corporate Identity has been affected by public opinion, due to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in spring 2010.

Method – The study employs a qualitative method. The data is based on primary data collection from online newspapers journals and scientific books. The theoretical section is based on information gathered mostly from journals and scientific books while the information about the oil spill comes mostly from online newspapers.

Findings/Conclusions– My research found that the public opinion has been affecting BP’s corporate identity negatively. Further, BP’s actions after the disaster have contributed to the negative opinion about the company. The Greenpeace and Facebook action has helped to spread the public opinion.