Lauren Powell
Sea World
Sea world, a place most known for its positive and exciting atmosphere filled with animal shows and exhibits, has lost that reputation rather quickly. For those of you that haven’t seen the documentary Black Fish, I highly recommend watching it. It documents the cruel actions taken by Seaworld to capture, contain, and house their whale friends. Sea world has done wonders for San diego's economy bringing in tourists looking for a fun get away, but since Blackfish, Sea Worlds standings have crumbled.
Blackfish Is a documentary that focuses on the captivity of Tilikum, one of Seaworld's Orcas. The coverage of Tilikum includes his capture in 1983 off the coast of Iceland, and the stories of the three deaths he’s responsible for. It shows the horrible truths behind Sea World and how traumatic captivity truly is for these poor animals.
Before the Documentary was released in 2013, Seaworld had an average of about 24.4 million guests a year. Since 2013,the count has dropped to 23.4 million customers. It may not seem like a large drop but thats a whole one million customers. If you divide 1,000,000 by 4 (the average family size of America), that’s 250,000 less hotel rooms being booked, cars airplane tickets being bought, and reservations being made in the city of San diego, there for having a negative impact on their economy.
Not only has Seaworld's income dropped but their stocks have as well. Records show that the day Seaworld announced it’s quarter earnings, following the documentary, their stock dropped 2.66 percent that day. Following that week, a bill was proposed in California stating that Orca shows should be outlawed at all Seaworld's and zoos. The week following the proposed bill, stocks dropped another 7%. As of July of 2014, Seaworld's stock has officially dropped 25% from it’s highest point in time. 
Although there is no denying that the recent drops in attendance and cost have come from the documentary and truths revealed, the company has tried to convince America otherwise by blaming it on “bad weather” and other non realistic theories. This has also presented the company with a decision regarding opportunity cost. Do they spend more money, money they are already losing to convince the public that everything Blackfish has said is lies, or do they just let it go and lose customers. They chose to release statements calling the documentary “shamefully dishonest” and “nothing but lies”. Seaworld has also made sure, through the use of advertisements and newspaper, to make it clear that everything that has been released are “inaccurate reports” while reiterating their beliefs in their Orca’s well being. Although they have given a clear and hard effort by investing in larger whale tanks and housing conditions, there is no denying the fact that Seaworld is starting to crumble and will for sure be a loss for San diego's economy.
For years Seaworld has been one of the number one tourist attractions in San diego but all that is beginning to change. All the money that San Diego’s economy benefited off of the tourists buying hotel rooms, and dinner, is all about to turn to dust. Due to declining customers and stock, Seaworld's positive reputation is slowly beginning to fade. If you have not watched Blackfish, take a look and decide for yourself if you think the treatment of the Orcas is fair or not.
." CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 13 Aug. 2014. Web. 15 Sept. 2014. <http://money.cnn.com/2014/08/13/investing/seaworld-earnings/index.html>.
"SeaWorld Stock Drops." Norbert Haupt. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2014. <http://norberthaupt.com/2014/01/02/sea-world-stock-drops/>.
When social media rips apart a business, it can be devastating for the local economy. I like how you illustrated the math of the quarter-million less families bringing in profits for the San Diego area. I have never heard of the documentary Black Fish, but your discussion about it reminded me of all the other documentaries that have attacked a business. One of them was “Supersize me” which attacked the nutritional value of McDonalds. That begged me to question though, once supersize me aired, did people actually stop going to McDonalds. I think that definitely the trend of admission into Sea World might continue to drop, but it’s not necessarily because of Black Fish. People, even when they see clearly that zoo animals are contained in a small pen, still enjoy going to the Zoo for entertainment, and as much I support changing the ways that we capture animals, I’m hesitant to say that the documentary will change people’s view of Sea World because people still want to see orcas balancing balls on their noses and dolphins doing tricks. Overall your piece was really interesting, but as sad as it is to say, until people care enough about Orcas to boycott Sea World, I think that the documentary won’t change the economy significantly. Thanks for sharing Lauren:)
ReplyDeleteI've seen "Black Fish" before and I've also watched news reports on the incident and I think it's wrong to stop going to Sea World. It's a complete accident and the whale doesn't really know what it's doing. Nice graph and use of data. I also like how you compared the data to other objects. Overall it was a very good piece and I enjoyed reading and learning about what Sea World brings to San Diego. Thanks Lauren!
ReplyDeleteLove Conner
XOXO
Poor orcas! It's so unfortunate that a company that promotes the livelihood of animals could be the direct source of possible harm to them. I never would have thought of relating a topic like this to economics but was excited to learn about something I'm interested in. It's interesting that the amount of stocks declined after the release of "blackfish". Initially, this decrease is probably a reaction to the film but now I think it could have to do more with how the company is reacting to the critical nature they are receiving.
ReplyDeleteI meant to add on the end of that: thanks for sharing your information Lauren! :)
DeleteI really like your idea and I can tell that you really care about this subject. I like you you integrated vocabulary from unit one in a matter that made sense. You made so smart inferences about how this event might effect the over economy of San Diego and I would be interested to learn more about the overall effect that this documentary has had on the tourist economy there. I wonder though, do many families come to San Diego purely to see Sea World? I really don't know that there are any less hotel rooms being booked, but I could see them being booked for fewer days now that vacationers are choosing not to spend an extra day touring Sea World. Also, I think that the tweet you posted about Russel Brand was interesting, and it argued your concept on a broader level. Nice job.
ReplyDeleteLauren, we see the news when it reports a crew member being seriously injured, or even killed at SeaWorld, but that is really all we hear about it, unless we go searching for it. You did exactly that, you searched for the information behind the cameras, I did not even hear about the documentary, Blackfish. You have inspired me to watch it, because like many I thought SeaWorld was a better place than it actually is, this teaches us to remember just how different something can be behind the walls of sparkle and beauty. I did notice though that in your post you wrote SeaWorld as Seaworld, but other than that everything else looks great.
ReplyDeleteThis issue in sea world was not fully exposed until the showing of the film “Blackfish”. This is a big problem in many theme parks that have animals across the US. Seaworld in San Diego was one of the worst and now that it’s exposed it has lost millions of visitors and is diminishing. Sea WOrld will eventually no longer become an asset to the City and San Diego, because of the fact that now local businesses that relied on sea world no longer will have business. Which will cause them to start sinking with sea world. The economy will eventually stable I out, because of the fact that San Diego alsp has many other tourist attractions that will stimulate the economy. However there more than likely will be a dramatic increase of unemployment due to the fact that not as many tourists are entering San Diego to visit sea world.
ReplyDeleteNice job Lauren! I totally agree that because of Blackfish SeaWorld and San Diego has lost a major amount of money because of this. I think that the media most likely has some of the facts wrong, as Pewaukee students know from an issue in our lives, but we also know that creatures of that size shouldn't be in that kind of captivity that they are having them in. The shutting down of SeaWorld would make San Diego lose a lot of money (if it hasn't lost it already) but it you also need to see that it is San Diego and as Zach stated it will be able to bounce back because of the ocean and many other attractions that people go to.
ReplyDeleteHi Lauren, this article is very interesting because it illustrates how the media can affect not only a business by a bad review (as it were) but entire cities as well all centering around a small thing. Before this film this was a booming business, taken down by one voice made very loud. I believe that media has the greatest power over a business, and with bad media you aren’t going to be making a lot of money, its unsustainable. Same with bad critic reviews on restaurants, potential customers see bad reviews, they go somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteThis was a really great topic to talk about Lauren, especially because of how much attention it has received in that past year. I have never actually watched the documentary completely through, but have heard all the controversy about it! Even on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, this has been the topic to talk about. Like many of the other comments stated, it really is crazy to think about how much of an effect the documentary has had on the sales that Sea World receives. Just imagine if the documentary hadn’t been created, how differently everything would be today! Especially with the economy, seeing how much income Sea World receives, it sure could have made a difference. I really liked the visuals you used to support your post as well, great job!
ReplyDeleteI have never seen the movie "Black Fish," but based on the information I have gathered from it, it seems logical that the producers would have created a bias in the information they present. Intending to reveal the worst treatment by SeaWorld in order to engross its audience and therefore create a profit for themselves, the producers of “Black Fish’ clearly would have omitted the good actions of SeaWorld. SeaWorld, in turn, instead of slandering the accusations made in “Black Fish,” should have endeavored to promote the positive deeds done in order to recreate receptive attitudes in nearby citizens and potential visitors. The marginal benefits – building a better reputation and potentially increasing revenue – outweigh the marginal benefits far greater than they would if SeaWorld were to continue to refute the evidence put forth by the producers of “Black Fish.”
ReplyDeleteI myself have seen this documentary and promised that I would never support Sea World in any way. Now this is just my opinion, but it goes to show how powerful Blackfish is; I imagine I am not the only person who feels this way and I can see how this would be devastating for the economy of San Diego. This was a really good topic choice because of how recent it is and how much attention it has gotten from celebrities as well as the common man. However, I would like to know more about the economic side of this. You had a good graph and solid evidence that proved how much the percentage of people attending Sea World has dropped, but I would suggest using a few more economic terms. Maybe talk about the ways that Sea World could bounce back from this blow or if the government should get involved by passing a law to ban the use of Orca whales in captivity. Overall though you did a great job!
DeleteHey Lauren! I've seen Blackfish and because of it Seaworld has lost a decent amount of money due to the accidents regarding their killer whales. However, even though people are not going because of the accidents, they still make money and there for it would be a bad economic decision for them to be shut down. Even though what they have done to killer whales is extremely wrong and morally upsetting for many people, SeaWorld is still a large tourist attraction and gives people jobs.
ReplyDeleteLauren, this was a very interesting piece to read. I have never heard of this Black Fish. and I found it astonishing how much this impacted Sea World's loss of sales. The company has to think about the opportunity costs when they are dealing with this kind of problem. Should they advertise and say that Black fish is alll lies, like you said? Or should they let it pan out and not deal with it? They have to think about the next alternative. Also, Sea World will lose lots of money due to this and will cause economic issues for this specific company. This will also effect many busnesses around Sea World, causing them to lose money as well. Black Fish did not only hurt Sea World but various other businesses as well.
ReplyDeleteHey Lauren, this was a great topic to choose to write about! I have never actually seen the documentary, however--like many others--I have heard about the controversy! It's insane to think that before the release of the documentary, Sea World was the top tourist attraction, collecting a steadily high income! To think all of that changed due to one documentary; they were very close to losing all business. However, I think it is important that Sea World spoke up to say that not all information provided within the documentary was accurate! Sea World today is still a very large tourist attraction, however they did lose a good chunk of their business. Seeing how much income Sea World used to make, I begin to wonder what the economy would be like today if the documentary wouldn't have been created? Very interesting to think about!
ReplyDeleteIt’s crazy how the media can cause a once thriving company to crumble and lose thousands of customers! Just imagine how many other companies have secrets they hide and they’re probably hoping they stay hidden forever based on what’s happened to Sea World. As you said the stocks dropped a total of 25% from it’s highest point which is quite a lot and is obviously devastating to the company. Also they've lost 1,000,000 customers! That would do a lot of damage to any company because of all the money that not only the company is losing but also that city’s economy. It’s crazy how the media can be used to either break or make a company.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen "Blackfish" either, although it's on my 'To Watch' on Netflix and I have heard talk about the controversy surrounding the topic. It's horrible to think about how Sea World captured their animals, but on the economic point not only have the producers gained a profit from their documentary, they have also devastated an entire city's economy. For San Diego to lose Sea World's profit impacts the entire city, because not only is Sea World losing money but so are hotels, the San Diego airports, restaurants, and other tourist attractions.
ReplyDeleteI personally have never seen the movie “Black Fish”, but it would seem to me that Sea World has some serious rebuilding to do. The movie, under the information provided to me, seems to have destroyed the reputation of Sea World as well as tarnishing the economy of the city of San Diego. To me, the marginal benefit for Sea World to pump extra cash into the rebuilding process through either the refutement of the statements made by “Black Fish” if they are in fact false or through the promotion of animal welfare far outweigh the marginal cost of spending extra cash that they might not be able to afford at the moment for it will increase the reputation of Sea World as well as the income of both Sea World and the city of San Diego.
ReplyDeleteBefore your post, I had not heard of the documentary, Blackfish. Now that I have read your post, I am intrigued by it and disappointed by SeaWorld. When you said how many customers they were losing it didn’t seem like that much, until you mentioned how the economy of San Diego is also suffering. I had not thought of that, but I do agree that not only is SeaWorld affected, but also hotels, airline companies, and car rental companies as well as local restaurants and retail stores losing business due to the bad publicity of their neighbor, SeaWorld. The economy is really more than just one business in the area, as all of the businesses’ incomes are connected and affected by each other’s success or failure.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I don’t know much about Sea World and your references to the film, Blackfish, this topic really sparked my interest. I agree that losing 1 million customers is a drastic decrease in profit for Sea World’s business, I’m just not very sure that it will make a huge difference in San Diego’s economy. The reason I say this is because I recently traveled to San Diego and now having seen it’s other great qualities, such as, the zoo, old town, beaches, and, of course, the weather, it is difficult to think that the economy will take a turn for the worse. You did a wonderful job explaining the situation and controversy that has been brought to the surface. The only thing I’m left wondering is whether the Sea World in Florida was affected after the release of the documentary. Thank you for sharing, Lauren!
ReplyDeleteI really like your topic you chose to write about and I have never seen Blackfish either but after reading everything you had to say, I would definitely like to go watch it now because that is crazy how Sea World was a very popular and fun place for many families to go to but the fact that they have lost that many people all because of a documentary is crazy! If there wasn’t that documentary Sea World could have grown so much but instead they are failing and their business is becoming smaller. Sea World is going to continue to lose money and I really wonder what they are going to do to try and gain their customers back.
ReplyDeleteBlackfish was definitely a documentary craze last year, and I never thought of how it could potentially impact the amount of people that go to Sea World, but clearly it did. I agree that the decease in 100,000 people going doesn't seem like a lot but once you put it in perspective it affects a lot more than just Sea World. It would be interesting to see if the hotels and overall tourist economy of San Diego actually decreased after the release of this film.
ReplyDeleteThis was a great topic to write about since blackfish was a very popular documentary last year. Its interesting to see how greatly media can influence people decisions. Especially to the point that hundreds of thousands of people would not go to Sea World regardless if they know how accurately the film portrayed Sea World.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the topic that you chose. I have seen the documentary Blackfish and it does show that an animal being in captivity isn’t right. I agree that because of Blackfish, San Diego and and SeaWorld have lost a huge amounts of money but, trying to pass off that a whale only killed three people because of weather isn’t right. If SeaWorld is shut down, San Diego would lose a lot of money, more than they’ve already lost. If SeaWorld would be shut down, San Diego shouldn’t have a hard time at bouncing back. It was already a huge tourist attraction even with the addition of SeaWorld and it should be able to bounce back with many new attractions.
ReplyDeleteoh and I also liked how they had to weigh the possibilities of calling out the documentary that made them look bad or just ignore it, and how they had to deal with the opportunity costs, and how they decided what to do in the end.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHey Lauren, it was really good that you picked such a recent topic. It is crazy how much just one documentary effected SeaWorld! I didn't know about that documentary, but i'll have to see it! It's sad how SeaWorld captures species, it is just cruel. The lost of costumers didn't seem much until you refered how much it affected other businesses. Sometimes we don’t notice, but most economic sistems are related to each others, and if one fails the others also get affected. Nice job
ReplyDeleteI personally never saw "Blackfish" although now I would like to. This was such an interesting topic because it was controversial. I can understand completely why there business is going down. If what was said to be in the documentary is true than SeaWorld shouldn't only be boycotted by the public, they should be shut down for animal cruelty. Like I said I never saw the film so I'll have to watch that and get a better opinion. I really need to found out more about this now!
ReplyDeleteColin Marks
ReplyDeleteI never saw "Blackfish", but after reading this I think I should. They are mistreating animals and they are paying for their actions and so is San Diego. The business has lost 1,000,000 customers and I believe based on your writing they will lose more.
Lauren,
ReplyDeleteI really like that you chose this topic to talk about because it is a really prevalent issue ever since the documentary came out on netflix. Because I've seen the documentary, I can definitely believe that there is a one million person decrease in attendance, because I had seen pictures and videos of people protesting outside the park and seen the controversy in the news. I wonder if this issue will continue to grow in the future and other animal parks and zoos will get boycotted. However, I think people enjoy seeing these creatures up close and personal too much for places like Sea World to completely close down.
Lauren, you had really good information and I did happen to see blackfish. It's sad to see a place that once made so much money, but now is losing money due to a documentary. Also I wonder how long this will go on and I wonder if this will ever have any more effects on the way society thinks about places like sea world and similar places.
ReplyDeleteWhy is this so hard?
ReplyDeleteWhat's happened at Sea World is nothing good and although it may damage the local economy, I feel that receiving these negative reviews and losing as many patrons as it did was good thing. It was a punishment towards Sea World that might have been small and not as big as it should be, but it has caught the attention of a lot of people. Some of these people include celebrities. I like how you included the Twitter post from Russell Brand because typically, people will follow the footsteps of celebrities. Great read.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen the documentary but it does seem like it would hurt a business, even one as powerful as sea world was. Sea world doesn't just support itself with all the business it got, it probably benefited the entire community by bringing in tourists for hotels and restaurants a little attractions in the area, and now a lot of these places probably wont be able to hold up without sea world as support. Will sea world actually be hurt as a result of the documentary? Or will the fad blow over and bring more tourism to sea world?
ReplyDeleteIt’s amazing how much the Economy of a State can decrease that much just from one single tourist attraction. It’s really sad that a place that promotes the beauty of the animals does such horrible things to the animals and expect to get away with it, but with being such a big enterprise, they also have to be aware that now a days anything can get out with the media.
ReplyDeleteI admire this article for the well-researched content and excellent wording. I got so involved in this material that I couldn’t stop reading. I am impressed with your work and skill. Thank you so much.
ReplyDeletesea world