Comment: British Museum’s BP Cheerleading Shows Why Big Oil Loves Arts Sponsorship

Read time: 8 mins

By Jess Worth, Co-Director of campaign group Culture Unstained

Why do Big Oil companies sponsor some of the UK’s most prominent cultural institutions? Because it gives them PR that advertising dollars simply can’t buy.

Never was that more obvious than on BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight last week, where British Museum chair Sir Richard Lambert quipped “I don’t want to do a PR job for BP”, then proceeded to do just that.