Speeches that are delivered across any media should be very thoroughly examined before the public ever hears them. Typically in speeches and advertisements alike there is a tag line for the audience to take away that is memorable and catchy.
If this were an advertisement in the form of an appealing commercial, "BP cares about the small people" seems like a great phrase to bring in customers who like the idea of a family oriented, personal business.
In this case, it is not the word choice of the speech that create controversy, but rather the words in context. It is hard to make a corporation who just had a major accident that will seriously affect natural life feel like a company with good intentions and a familial atmosphere. You also have to consider the attitude of the audience to determine how open they are to accepting your statements. A consumer watching TV or reading an online ad may be neutral or accepting of your product without much convincing. In this case, however, the audience was not open-minded consumers.
This speech serves not only to assuage the current audience, but also will be for reference in the future. When someone looks into BP, they will not only judge their products but their track record as a company. If they handled the issue well, it could potentially change the minds of customers who have bad first impressions of what they stand for. Additionally, if the spill has any sort of lasting impact as an ecological issue, it is likely that their statements will follow in the story, therefore they had to choose carefully to please multiple audiences.