The Congressional Committee on Energy and Commerce has asked BP to report how much money the company has spent on advertising since the beginning of the oil spill disaster on April 20. The numbers were due on August 16, but so far BP hasn’t provided any.

With some speculating that the company has spent millions in the 18 weeks since the spill, the question for some is whether that money could’ve been better spent.

Fortune spoke with Levick Communications SVP Gene Grabowski who called the advertising a necessity.

“In a crisis, issue-based advertising is essential. You have a relationship with your customers, and implied in that relationship in the 21st century is a conversation,” he said.