It’s hard to imagine Wall Street bankers worrying about what One Direction heartthrob Harry Styles thinks. But, it turns out at least some of them do.
Bankers at Credit Suisse on Thursday warned that Styles had sparked a surge in negative sentiment towards SeaWorld, the controversial aquatic theme park, which is already suffering a collapse in profits.
“Does anybody like dolphins?” Styles asked his fans during a concert in San Diego, home to one of SeaWorld’s biggest parks, last month. Following a roar from the crowd, he told them: “Don’t go to SeaWorld.” Styles’s comments were captured by hundreds of people, including Game of Thrones’ Maisie Williams, and spread across social media.
The Credit Suisse analysts said it had looked like SeaWorld’s brand was finally beginning to turn a corner after the 2013 documentary Blackfish detailed claims that its treatment of orca whales provoked violent behaviour contributing to the deaths of three people. But they said Styles’s comments, together with revelations that a SeaWorld employee had infiltrated animal rights protest groups, had sparked a fresh wave of millions of negative comments about the firm to be posted online.
In a note to clients, the Credit Suisse analysts said: “Brand impairment issues were magnified in July from allegations that a SeaWorld employee acted as an undercover member of activist group Peta, and after One Direction lead singer, Harry Styles, urged all of his fans to boycott SeaWorld during a concert in San Diego.”
They said this had led to a 400% increase in online comments about SeaWorld in July more than 2.5m, the vast majority of which were negative.
“We believe two events were the main contributors to the 400% spike in mentions and 13% increase in negative commentary month-over-month,” said the analysts said. “Namely, 1) allegations that a SeaWorld employee acted as an undercover member of activist group Peta and 2) One Direction lead singer, Harry Styles, urged all of his fans to boycott SeaWorld during a concert in San Diego.”
The analysts said they would be asking SeaWorld’s management how they intended to restore the company’s brand. They said they would be “looking for color around the recent setbacks following negative headlines and any nuggets around turnaround strategy”.
SeaWorld’s chief executive, Joel Manby, plans to announce in November a fresh strategy to turn the company around. SeaWorld has provided no details about what the plan will involve.
Earlier this month SeaWorld reported an 84% collapse in profits, and Manby was forced to admit that the company is still not doing enough to convince customers that it treats its dolphins and whales well enough.
Since the release of Blackfish the company has spent $10m on the marketing blitz to combat animal rights activist claims that, among other things, captive orcas die at a younger age than their wild counterparts.
“We realize we have much work ahead of us to recover more of our attendance base, increase revenue and improve our performance as returning to historical performance levels will take time and investment,” Manby, who joined as CEO four months ago to help the company rehabilitate, said. “On the reputation side, early feedback on our campaign has been positive. However, we recognize that fully resolving our brand challenges in California will require sustained focus and commitment to correct misinformation.”
“We will continue to fight with the facts, because the facts are on our side,” he said on a conference call with reporters and analysts on Thursday.
SeaWorld’s shares, which were worth $39 in 2013, were changing hands for $17.60 on Thursday.
