SeaWorld and the Blackfish problem

So I've mostly written about cases in which good PR helped a company, but today I'm going to talk about how bad PR can tear a company apart.

The documentary Blackfish was released in July of 2013. The film underscores problems within the sea-park industry, while specifically targeting SeaWorld. Ever since the release of the film, SeaWorld has received tremendous backlash both verbally and financially. The company's stock went down 33% in August of 2014 when it announced that attendance at its San Diego park had slowed in the second quarter as a result of the documentary.

Obviously, the film posed a great threat to SeaWorld, but if the company would have handled the situation in a better manner it might not be facing the financial hit that it is today. After the release of the film, SeaWorld chose to ignore it, which was a bad move on the company's part. Now that SeaWorld has addressed the film, it only seems that it did so because SeaWorld did not want to lose any more money as a company.

In response to the negative media attention the company started to receive because of Blackfish, SeaWorld set up an entire page on its website entitled "Blackfish: The Truth About the Movie." The page essentially debunks the movie as propaganda, and tries to disprove every fact that was portrayed in the film. This PR tactic did nothing for the company except make it look like a bunch of money hungry executives that are in denial about the nature of the sea-park business.

In another response to the film, SeaWorld also announced that it has pledged to implement mass upgrades to the habitats of its Orca whales. SeaWorld promises among other things to nearly double the size of the tanks in San Diego and eventually in Orlando through 2018. It also plans to build “water treadmills” to foster exercise for the marine giants. This tactic basically makes the company look like hypocrites. By completely denying that Blackfish has any clout, and then making habitual changes to its parks in response to the backlash from the film heightens the money hungry persona of the company that was actually portrayed in Blackfish. 

So, nothing has seemed to work for poor old SeaWorld, and it's mostly because its PR team did not take the right steps to help the company come out of the mess. One thing the company did get right, however, is promising to improve the environments of its animals. Instead of setting up an entire website page denying the facts presented in Blackfish, the company should have first immediately addressed the film in a statement recognizing that some of the facts are actually true, but that the company has since taken steps to fix the mistakes that it has made. This would not have made everyone happy, of course, but it would not make the company look like a bunch of hypocrites either.

Then, it would have to take steps to implement the mass upgrades that the company already pledged to make. Afterward, it would have been best for the company to not draw anymore attention to the film than it already has. Over time, the backlash would eventually seize once it's no longer an issue that's in the public eye. That's just how the media cycle works.

In the case of SeaWorld and Blackfish, SeaWorld is sort of digging its own grave by using these PR tactics. Unless SeaWorld changes the way that its handling the Blackfish issue, I won't be surprised if this just runs the company right into the ground.