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Activist Watch (Emily Meredith) By Hannah Thompson-Weeman
Emily Meredith is the communications director for the Animal Agriculture Alliance.

This is not a drill, people: The BlackFish crisis

(The views and opinions expressed in this blog are strictly those of the author.)

When you do crisis management communications for a living, you start to regard the world with alternating skepticism and panic. You code situations in your mind much like the government codes terror threats: red, orange, yellow.

It’s often difficult to know how to respond during a crisis as there’s no silver bullet. There are many schools of thought on crisis management and response, and those schools tend to align on basic principles, but unfortunately most of crisis management is trial and error.

Hindsight is 20/20 and it’s often easier to know what not to do than to know what’s going to help you weather a storm. (Hint: don’t respond to crises like the executive whose company tainted the water in West Virginia).

Whether it be a recall or an undercover video, our industry has certainly weathered our fair share of public crises--but we haven’t always come out on top. Instead, we sometimes stick with the “Ostrich” approach to crisis: burying our heads in the sand and waiting for the storm to pass.

I’m often inspired by companies that have found new and inventive ways to battle back against crisis: to stare negative PR right in the face and recognize the opportunity not just to survive a crisis, but rather, to thrive in one.

I was channel surfing the other night, and stumbled upon what must have been the one-millionth re-airing of “Blackfish” - a downright misleading documentary profiling SeaWorld and their animals, mostly focusing on their killer whales.

According to the trailer, Blackfish “tells the story of Tilikum, a performing killer whale that killed several people while in captivity. Along the way, director-producer Gabriela Cowperthwaite compiles shocking footage and emotional interviews to explore the species’ cruel treatment in captivity and the pressures brought to bear by the multi-billion dollar sea-park industry.”

Sure, SeaWorld, when faced with this negative publicity could have rolled over and played dead, but it didn’t. The fine folks at SeaWorld recognized that the documentary was ridiculous and that they had truth on their side. So they launched a full-scale, and dare I say “aggressive” counter campaign.

And the results are nothing short of inspirational.

So inspirational--that I have, more than once, seen friends and acquaintances of mine--with no connection to farming or SeaWorld, for that matter--share SeaWorld’s content and come to its defense. I mean, wow.

So what’s the secret to SeaWorld’s success? Well, I would say for starters their approach was bold. No guts, no glory--and guts were definitely key to this equation.

As far as the nuts and bolts, it was pretty simple: SeaWorld created a brand-spanking new website, called “The Truth About Blackfish” identifying every single error with the Blackfish. They dissected and corrected every single piece of misinformation.

 

Then they shared those corrections with every single reporter that covered the release of the documentary, many of them film critics. Then SeaWorld created its own set of “behind the scenes” videos including one featuring a trainer who was portrayed as someone else in Blackfish.

“The woman that you see...in the movie...that was me. That was two years of my career, leading up to that point that they [BlackFish] twisted and took from me.” Wow--gauntlet thrown. Hammer down.

Even the family of the trainer tragically killed at SeaWorld released a statement condemning the film and praising SeaWorld’s ethical treatment of animals.

The ultimate message of all of SeaWorld’s efforts is abundantly clear: This film is not an objective, science-based portrayal, but rather a piece of emotional propaganda perpetuated by animal-rights activists masquerading as scientists.

Sound familiar?

These disingenuous tactics are nothing new to us in animal agriculture, yet we rarely employ the same firm, strategic and meaningful response as did SeaWorld. Don’t get me wrong--not every scenario warrants this tactic.

Yet--sometimes, when we in ag have the truth on our side, we should stand up for ourselves. There’s a difference between being the bully and simply telling the truth and fighting back. And there are times when our “happy go lucky farm family” messaging doesn’t cut the mustard. Sometimes, we could benefit from taking a page from SeaWorld’s book.

Oh, and did I mention that all the major film festivals won’t be awarding BlackFish any acclaim?

Karma’s a you-know-what. 

2/18/2014

 
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