Seaworld is a well known marine themed amusement park with three locations throughout the United States. They are most well known for their shows with their captive Orcas, also known as Killer Whales. Once a well loved park, it is now facing major scrutiny due largely to the documentary Blackfish that was released in 2013. This documentary is mainly about one of Seaworld’s captive Orcas, Tilikum, and how he killed several people while in captivity, but also discusses the species and its cruel treatment in captivity. Seaworld’s “profits have dropped 84% after the Blackfish documentary” (Time), their attendance has also dropped. In Response Seaworld launched a massive PR campaign in late 2013 to try to mend their tarnished image. They use images and quotes to try and make the public believe they care about the well being of their captive Orcas, but their advertisements and web campaign are rather deceiving. …show more content…
They have attempted to do this with a massive twitter campaign that includes images of seemingly happy Orcas in their tanks or with their trainers, as well as videos of employees speaking about how Blackfish is full of lies, they have also since launched Seaworldcares.com which attempts to once again debunk the documentary and improve their image. The truth in the matter is that Seaworld is “reluctant to acknowledge the mounting evidence confirming the devastating impact captivity can have on such sentient beings, firing back at criticism with expensive PR campaigns and evasive tactics”