Chief executive of Sea World, Joel Manby, has recently announced that the famous Shamu Killer Whale Show will be phased out by 2017 and replaced with a new exhibit which will display the whales in a more natural habitat. The enormous SeaWorld themed park in California has been targeted by activists regarding their treatment of the whales. What started this movement towards abolishing the show was the popular film “Black Fish”. After the documentary was released, the public went on a frenzy causing many to view SeaWorld under a negative light. How did this affect the business? This one documentary lost SeaWorld millions. Approximately $25.4 million was lost due to attendance rates declining and stocks fell by a dramatic 33% directly after the documentary was released.
In my opinion, dropping the Shamu show will strengthen SeaWorld’s business in the long run. Referring back to previous material covered in class 9: Management Accounting, SeaWorld’s plan to cancel the infamous show relates to how Paul Gill, owner of Naked Coconut, made a shift from plastic to glass containers. Even though the cost of shifting from plastic to glass was high, Mr. Gill still decided to do it because his “customer demographic [was] totally against plastic” and if he made the change customers would feel more compelled to buy the product. I feel as though SeaWorld is making the same kind of decision based off of what they’re customers want; “[they] are listening to [their] guests, [and] evolving as a company.” Cancelling the Shamu Killer Whale Show will boost attendance rates for SeaWorld in the long run because customers will view them as a respectable and ethical company that cares about customer inputs.
