SeaWorld’s Argument Against BlackFish

The website for SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment is speaking towards anyone that has seen the documentary BlackFish, or anyone who thinks that SeaWorld is abusing or mistreating the orcas or other animals by keeping them in captivity. They also attract the corporate side of SeaWorld as a business. The website gives information about what the business does to give back to the community, how their animals are treated and shows their credibility to draw in customers. The tab titled “The truth about Blackfish” states multiple points about how the producers of the documentary were lying about their facts or over exaggerating to appeal to multiple viewers. The purpose is to fight back against Blackfish and support the owner’s business of SeaWorld as a corporation. The company aspire to let viewers know that the documentary was made of lies, and they want to inform everyone of their side of the story for how orcas and marine life are treated under their care. The SeaWorld website appeals to viewers by the use of logos, ethos, and pathos to contradict the slanderous statements said in the documentary, BlackFish and to attract customers to their entertainment business. . SeaWorld’s appeal to logos is their strongest appeal because of how many statistics, facts, numbers and logical arguments they stated directly against the statements made by the producers of BlackFish.

For example, they use statistics such as 80% of the marine animals under the care of the corporation were born into the care of humans. This rebuts arguments that BlackFish stated about how most animals in captivity under SeaWorld’s care were taken from the wild in a vicious and violent way. They inform the reader that they have 11 US theme parks and they care for approximately 67,000 animals, including 7,000 marine and terrestrial animals and 60,000 fish. The facts and logistics prove to viewers with exact numbers and facts that they are a hearty business with records of the animals they take care of and how they care for them. The credibility and appeal to ethos of the documentary was well thought out and is effective. The corporate officials of SeaWorld used facts to convince viewers to believe their credibility instead of those of BlackFish by different logistic angles such as their many years of being in business. They stated in the website that in the more than fifty years SeaWorld has been in business, they have built a diversified portfolio of 11 destination and regional theme parks which proves they are a well-rounded corporation.

They inform the viewer that their programs and practices are based solely on the wellbeing of the animals; “Our advanced programming applies a broad range of best practices based upon behavioral enrichment, preventive health, veterinary medicine and facilities design and management. Our programs and policies are affirmed by numerous federal and state laws, including the Animal Welfare Act, Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act and other statuses”(SeaWorld Website). They make it their priority to accommodate environmental, social and economic sustainability across the company and throughout their employee culture, which is a huge part of having a thriving business. With this aspect of the business, they show that they are reliable and a trustworthy corporation. They state in the website how they have over 21,000 team members nationwide, which appeals to how the crew members are treated across the country, otherwise they wouldn’t have any employees. They make many other approaches to ethos in their arguments about how they are a credible company and a deserving business, despite what the producers of BlackFish had to say and did their job in proving they are an honorable business. The final appeal made in the website is the use of pathos.

This appeal has to do entirely on the emotion and sentimental response towards what the authors had to say in the website. Under the tab, “How We Care” on the website, SeaWorld mastered this particular appeal by all the examples of how they give back to the community around them whether its the rescue of ill, orphaned, and injured animals; funding and other forms of support for research, or their philanthropic focus on children, education, and the environment. This aspect of their business and website will attract those who care about those corporations that give back to the community. Through this appeal of pathos, they adequately prove the statements made in BlackFish false by showing that they don’t only care about the money or their profits on the animals or the workers, but also about how what they do affects the community around them. The website had a personal story of one of the trainers that was pictured in the documentary who was said to have been asked to jump directly on an orca for training during one of her first days on the job.

She states in a video interview, which was posted on the website, that she had been working there for years before she actually was asked to have contact with the marine animal. This form of ethos is effective by showing that individual’s personal stories were not they way they were portrayed in BlackFish. When I saw the documentary BlackFish, I was convinced that SeaWorld as a corporation was at fault, that they were corrupt and were not trustworthy. When viewing the website and clicking from tab to tab, I saw a different point of view that was more credible, sensitive and logical. The SeaWorld website effectively gave the reader a sense of logos, ethos and pathos through specific numbers and facts, examples of their credibility and sentimental responses to events. The website defended the slanderous statements being told through BlackFish and attract customers through their information about what the company does to give back and the care they give to their animals.