Blackfish Documentary Causes Drop In SeaWorld Profits

The bad publicity from ‘Blackfish’ caused losses in SeaWorld profits. Huffington Post reports that stock shares from the second-quarter of the year for SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. (SEAS) fell on Wednesday, leading to a dismal outlook for the rest of the year. SeaWorld profits depend on ticket sales to their theme parks, but people have lost interest since hearing about the killer whales in the documentary. Promotions and discounts hurt the company’s revenue even more between April and June, instead of generating public interest in the parks.

The documentary investigated the company’s treatment of their killer whales for entertainment, which has led to the accidental deaths of trainers. Efforts to address the claims of animal abuse in the ‘Blackfish’ documentary have not helped SeaWorld profits. Inquisitr reported that the Orlando-based company implemented new safety measures for its trainers, including inflatable safety vests. The vests come with portable oxygen tanks, intended to prevent fatal incidents, like the 2010 death of trainer, Dawn Brancheau. In Brancheau’s death, the killer whale dragged the trainer down to the bottom of the pool in front of hundreds at a SeaWorld show.

Brancheau’s death sparked the belief that training killer whales to “perform tricks” leads to aggressive behavior. Animal activists became concerned about the stress caused by years in captivity. The issue of whale captivity also stirred political debates on new legislation to stop SeaWorld from training killer whales for their family theme park shows.

CNN reports that SeaWorld profits dropped by 33% in the second quarter as a result of this negative spotlight in the media. The company expects a continued drop of 6% to 7% in revenue. This comes as bad news for investors who expected an increase in profits for 2014. Despite efforts to promote the theme parks, the bad publicity and the local competition from Universal Studios and Disney has not helped SeaWorld.

During the earnings report on Wednesday, SeaWorld also claimed that recent media attention on the California legislation against whale captivity has not helped the San Diego location either. The proposed legislation would prevent killer whales from being held in captivity for entertainment. This is the first time that the Florida company acknowledged the negative effect animal activism has had on its profits as reported by Barton Crockett, an FBR Capital Markets analyst.

According to Huffington Post, SeaWorld reported a net income of $37.3 million for the quarter that ended on June 30th. Those figures are not an improvement for the company since analysts expected the shares to be at 60 cents, not 43 cents per share. SeaWorld is now looking to cut costs in an effort to counter the effects of decreasing profits.

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