17) Tony Hayward

Some say that any publicity is good publicity. Unfortunately, this doesn't apply to BP, whose recent publicity is the worst publicity.

I caught most of an interview with CEO Tony Hayward on my way to work this morning. As the head of the company who is responsible for the millions of gallons of oil spilling into the Gulf Coast, this is the bad guy. His mugshot (above) on the NPR article that accompanied the interview is reminiscent of a deer caught in the most unflattering of headlights.

In the interview, Steve Inskeep grills him on BP's response, clean-up efforts and future pay-outs. He brought up old Hayward quotes, pushing the CEO to admit that he had been wrong about his blowout preventer being too awesome to fail. Hayward's responses were a pitch-perfect chorus of PR talking points delivered in a calm, collected tone.

For all his reassuring, it's difficult to take his answers at face value. Promises to honor "legitimate claims" and that BP is "good for it" come off as sneaky loop hole phrases planted now so they can germinate into full fledged legal defenses in the future. A scan through the comments on the NPR article show 150 posts of skepticism and bad will towards BP and its leader.

Is there anything that Tony Hayward could say to convince us that he's not the bad guy? If he had broken down in the interview, sobbed for forgiveness, could we forgive him then? And while actions speak louder than words, only time will tell whether his actions are loud enough to drown out the haters. The PR gods have spoken, and while not irreparable (see: Exxon Mobil), the damage has definitely been done.