Here's the new ad Sea World hopes will convince people to come back

By Fusion Staff  |  March 23, 2015 | 8:48pm
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Attendance at SeaWorld fell more than four percent for the second straight year in 2014 as visitors continued to react to Blackfish, the 2013 documentary showing alleged abuses at the aquatic park.

In its latest attempt to stop the slide, the Orlando-based chain launched a new campaign Monday featuring print and web ads, as well as a new website, to provide its own information regarding how it treats its animals.

“There’s been a lot of misinformation and even lies spread about SeaWorld, and we recognize that it has caused some people to have questions about the welfare of killer whales in human care,” David D’Alessandro, Chairman and Interim Chief Executive Officer of SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc. said in a statement. “This long-term campaign will address those questions head on. We want to provide the facts, so people can make up their own minds on this important issue.”

Starting tomorrow, the print ads will run in the New York Times, L.A. Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and newspapers in the states where there are SeaWorld parks.

The first has Chris Dold, a company veterinarian, saying that a claim made by PETA — that whales in captivity don’t live as long as they do in the wild — is incorrect.

“The author of an independent study, Dr. Douglas DeMaster, of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, was quoted in The Wall Street Journal as saying ‘Survival in the wild is comparable to to survival in captivity,'” Dold writes.

Here’s the full ad.

The TV ads, which are not yet completed, will run on national cable programming. And in the coming weeks the company will launch a website, AskSeaWorld.com, devoted to responding to questions asked by the public on Twitter.

Finally, SeaWorld has set up an online video campaign featuring a series of videos. Here’s Dold further explaining the company’s response to PETA.

What do you think?

Rob covers business, economics and the environment for Fusion. He previously worked at Business Insider. He grew up in Chicago.

 
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