jonfin826 said:
That being said, can you imagine how bad the optics would be for SeaWorld to fight back too hard on this? I think they would run the risk of turning even more of the public against them. Doesn't seem to me like there's an easy way out of this for SeaWorld, unfortunately.
They would have to tread with caution to do it.
But I've said a few times: Start with your own produced film on conservation efforts lead by SEAS team members. Admit that there was wrongdoing and issues in the Blackfish film; but back it up with the misrepresentation that happened in a wide range.
So to start, I would have put forward the notion that "hey we do plenty of good, while owning that there was mistakes."
After that is done I would be continuing to push the conservation front and efforts by being more open about what animals are coming into their care, how they are helping them, and how they release them to the wild. I would move away from "tricks" shows for the animals where they are trained, and more to "educational" shows within the parks where they are showing the natural abilities of the animals.
So in 'phase 2' you are getting more to 'here's why to respect these animals' and 'here's how we ensure their species can survive'.
And finally once your in better footing for all of this where the GP can see the efforts have positive outcomes, that you've embraced you've done wrong in the past, and you've moved on from the practices that allowed that to happen; I think you can go at continued efforts to use Blackfish as a tool against the park for defamation of character. I personally wouldn't go at revenue loss, because as Zimmy has covered a few times, there are other issues that lead to that.
That would be 'phase 3'. And on top of it, here's what I would do: Based on how much you get (if you win a monetary amount), donate most of it to conservation efforts
not operated by SEAS. That last bit is important IMO if you get this far. If you kept the money, GP will say he everything was about getting money because you're in trouble. Donate most of it, and people realize that you are past all of that and that this wasn't about the money, rather the damage done by a biased film.
Now personally the reason why I go in this order, is you never know what step is going to be the thing to turn the tide so to speak. Maybe just positive films, and changing the animal shows in the park to get away from trained behaviors can really change the perception. Hence why I really like BGT. Lots of just letting the animals roam. It's why I like the bird sanctuary, the wolf run, and the eagle enclosure at BGW. Those animals are just living life, and other than the wolves knowing where to go for food (IMO that's not really training), they are still very much just 'hanging out'. (Off on a tangent here but what they are doing for the eagles is amazing, because with those injuries they would have had a cruel ending to their lives). I think those things, animals that would have had a very sad ending in the wild, are what they really need to be highlighting.
Is there a chance this all could backfire some? Yes, there always is when you are trying to rehabilitate your image. But they are doing a terrible job as is anyways IMO with their "don't look there, look over here!" approach. I think a slight change to it to take on the issue head on would do them better.
