BP’s worst PR gaffe yet? Top exec calls Gulf Coast residents ‘small people’

The oil company’s chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, wasn’t referring to short men and women when he said, “People say that large oil companies don’t care about the small people. But we care. We care about the small people.” He was referring to residents of the Gulf Coast — victims of the oil spill. The chairman’s remark came during a press conference after BP agreed to put $20 billion in an escrow account to compensate these “small people.” For its part…