Corporate Environmental Framing and Moral Disengagement Across Strategic Phases: Case Study of BP's Environmental Communication Strategies

This study examines how BP strategically employs environmental framing and moral disengagement across three phases: pre‐accusation branding, accusation response, and post‐accusation sustainability communication to manage public perception and maintain legitimacy. Using a longitudinal qualitative case study of 87 corporate materials, including visual elements such as campaign imagery and logos, the analysis reveals a cyclical moral logic through which BP's “Beyond Petroleum” and “Keep Advancing” and “Possibilities Everywhere” campaigns framed the company as an environmental leader while obscuring its continued fossil fuel reliance. During the Deepwater Horizon crisis, BP used moral disengagement mechanisms such as minimization and displacement of responsibility to deflect blame. In the “Keep Advancing” and “Possibilities Everywhere”, strategies like moral justification and temporal deferral reframed fossil fuel continuity as part of a climate solution. The findings show that BP's communication reflects a cyclical pattern of narrative adaptation rather than a linear shift toward accountability. This research contributes to the business ethics literature by offering a framework for decoding corporate sustainability discourse and highlighting the ethical risks in long‐term climate pledges. The findings have implications for scholars, policymakers, and communication professionals seeking to critically evaluate corporate environmental claims in high‐impact industries.