Cancel Culture’s Impact of the Stability of Companies.
2020 saw the labeling of “Cancel Culture.” Cancel a culture is a form of ostracism in which someone is pushed out of social or professional environments due to something this person said that is considered offensive. The act of canceling has been around for a while, but we only recently saw a name for it. Whether you agree with cancel culture or not, many companies have been reshaping their image in the midst of the unforgiving cancel culture.
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey Circus are coming out of their six-year hiatus after being heavily criticized for their signature use of tigers, lions, and elephants. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey Circus stopped operations in 2017 due to a decrease in sales and pressure from animal-rights groups during their 146-year run. According to the CEO of The Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey Circus, the circus was unable to pick up sales after a huge drop in ticket sales and a change in consumer interests. In 2016 the company dropped elephants from their show but kept tigers and lions. When the show returns in 2023 it will drop animals performing altogether. This decision was approved by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and PETA. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey Circus will start to appeal to a more informed audience– an audience many would say is representative of the people today.
The concept of sales increasing to where customers are at a stable number that keeps The Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey Circus company at a successful position connects the concept we learned in class about instability and stability. When people began to gain a stronger conscience when it comes to animal rights and harm, sales began to go down. The sales are going down to z’ which brings the company to a state of instability and eventually down to zero because no one is purchasing and z’ is a tipping point. This means that z<z’, leads to the adoption level 0 and z>z’ leads to the adoption level z”. This situation essentially captures the idea of stability and instability. If you end up having exactly z’ then you stay there, but that is very unlikely. If you end up being less than z’ then you head down to zero where no one is using the product and the product fails (which is what happened in the case of The Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey Circus). If you guess above z’ then you will converge to z”. This of z’ is what makes it unstable. The circus company is attempting to bring their sales back up to the stable z” to shift the success of their company by making their shows fit the public’s idea of what is acceptable.
Works Cited
ABC News, ABC News Network, abcnews.go.com/US/ringling-bros-pushes-back-animal-rights-groups-claiming/story?id=44806898.
Latham, Saundra. “Big Names That Changed to Avoid Being Canceled.” Cheapism, Cheapism, 28 Oct. 2021, blog.cheapism.com/companies-forced-to-rebrand/#slide=2.