Tony Hayward a "long line of PR gaffes" by attending the race while the Gulf oil spill continued. In June, BP put Mississippi native Bob Dudley in charge of handling the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Dudley was appointed president and chief executive of the newly created Gulf Coast Restoration Organization, reporting to Hayward. Following the "Deepwater Horizon" oil spill, there were rumours that Hayward would resign, but the company dismissed these. A BBC report said that a BP press release stated that Hayward "has the full confidence of the board of directors of BP." BP announced on 27 July 2010 that
BP as a section of the company's website where it communicated its efforts to clean up the spill. BP began a re-branding campaign in late 2010, and decided to focus its brand on the idea of "bringing brilliant minds together with technology at a massive scale to meet the world's energy needs", and focus its messaging on telling stories about people. In February 2012 BP North America launched a $500 million branding campaign to rebuild its brand. The company's advertising budget was about $5 million per week during the four-month spill in the Gulf of Mexico, totaling nearly $100 million. In