Remember Jumanji? BP Game is Like Living it For Real

July 9th, 2010. By AbiK

This one’s been making the rounds lately—had to share in the event you hadn’t seen it yet. I’m not sure who exactly dug it up—one report says someone at UK Metro found it—but it’s a board game from the 1970’s: BP Offshore Oil Strike. No, you can’t make this stuff up.

Can’t make this up either…tagline is “An exciting game for all the family”. You betcha—particularly if you’re living it Jumanji-style in the Gulf right now. The lead-in line at top is noteworthy, too: “The thrills of drilling, the hazards and rewards as you bring in your own…” Yeah.

It was an actual game where you drill for oil and build platforms and pipelines—all the usual oil biz doings. But here’s the stroke of irony from the benefit of hindsight—it also has “Hazard” cards that players might wind up with. No small hazards either, mind you. These hazards make the game rigs blow up—causing oil spills and major clean-ups (cha-ching!). Sound vaguely familiar?

The thing I’m trying to digest here is that BP apparently marketed this themselves—heck, clearly they at least lent their logo to the thing. And I’m trying to do a little mental flashback to the ’70’s…had no one thought that this might actually be in bad taste? A little brand image no-no? Perhaps because it wasn’t until the later part of the decade when folks turned their focus to more environmental concerns after Three Mile Island and energy sources gone wrong? I don’t know. But even now, the re-emergence of this little gem across the virtual airwaves cannot possibly be a plus for BP’s image—even after some thirty-plus years.

Tags: BP, BP Oil Spill

This was posted on Friday, July 9th, 2010 at 10:31 am and is filed under Environment . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.