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I’ve been watching BP’s television commercials flooding the airways. They provide an impressive narrative on the wide range of actions and the commitment the company is making to clean up the Deep Horizon oil spill disaster.

As I saw my third or fourth ad today while exercising, I wondered how much BP was spending to spread the word about its response as part of its “We will make this right” campaign.

I did a quick Google search and learned that, as of June, BP was spending an estimated $50 million on TV advertising to manage its image, according to the Houston Chronicle. It would be hard to believe that amount hasn’t increased in light of the welcomed “good” news being reported right now about bringing the oil well under control.

Regardless of the final ad spending totals, I would imagine that the advertising costs will far exceed what the company and its partners would have spent to fix the problem and “make it right” before the disaster occurred.

Actions may speak louder than words, but few things speak louder than words that are documented.