The terrorists have won!

[Aries Walker]

The number one thing that a corporation has to avoid above all else is to be hated. Not just disliked or evolved away from, but really reviled. People still equate Exxon with the Valdez, and BP with the oil spill. The people who run the company work for the shareholders, and if they ruin the brand, they get fired. The result is that, a lot of the time, they play public-opinion defense; that's why Aflac canned Gilbert Gottfried, that's why the NFL is cracking down on wife-beaters, and that's why just about everyone is getting the hell away from Bill Cosby now that he's so toxic.

And all of those things pale in comparison to the bad juju they theater chains would have to eat if they ran The Interview, and someone shot up or bombed one of its showings. Every paper, every 24-hours news station, every website and blog, and every Twitter hound would drag their name through the mud, and their stock would bottom out overnight. Then, they'd get sued.

After the four chains dropped out, Sony sure wasn't going to risk their already-precarious future on a stoner comedy. Of course they bailed on it; it is a terrible Rubicon to cross in terms of homeland security and free speech and American freedom, but as a business decision, they probably felt that they had to.

No corporation will take an F-U attitude, nor will they stand up for what's right. They stand up for what makes them money. That's what they do. That's all they do. That's also what they will keep doing.

[AustinChief]

Originally Posted by Aries Walker

The number one thing that a corporation has to avoid above all else is to be hated. Not just disliked or evolved away from, but really reviled. People still equate Exxon with the Valdez, and BP with the oil spill. The people who run the company work for the shareholders, and if they ruin the brand, they get fired. The result is that, a lot of the time, they play public-opinion defense; that's why Aflac canned Gilbert Gottfried, that's why the NFL is cracking down on wife-beaters, and that's why just about everyone is getting the hell away from Bill Cosby now that he's so toxic.

And all of those things pale in comparison to the bad juju they theater chains would have to eat if they ran The Interview, and someone shot up or bombed one of its showings. Every paper, every 24-hours news station, every website and blog, and every Twitter hound would drag their name through the mud, and their stock would bottom out overnight. Then, they'd get sued.

After the four chains dropped out, Sony sure wasn't going to risk their already-precarious future on a stoner comedy. Of course they bailed on it; it is a terrible Rubicon to cross in terms of homeland security and free speech and American freedom, but as a business decision, they probably felt that they had to.

No corporation will take an F-U attitude, nor will they stand up for what's right. They stand up for what makes them money. That's what they do. That's all they do. That's also what they will keep doing.

Sony is getting a metric ton of hate for pulling the movie. There are people talking about boycotts etc... As a corporation it was a bonehead move if their concern was violence. That is just idiotic. #1 The vast majority of people wouldn't blame Sony ... they would blame the nutjobs #2 you are saying that it is better to avoid a ridiculously unlikely catastrophe and instead choose a guaranteed public relations disaster instead. In no world is this a good idea. Ever.

Which is why this line of thinking is probably irellevent. As Dane pointed out, this is more likely about IP than it is about violence.

[Aries Walker]

Remember though that Sony only pulled it after the four major theater chains did; I think they were the ones who made the decision based on knee-jerk fear of attack moreso than Sony. I'm also not convinced that they thought of an attack as being ridiculously unlikely (remember they made their decisions to pull the movie before the US announced that North Korea was behind the hacks), and in either case I think they'd rather take a more likely PR disaster than a less likely company-ending catastrophe.

All of that said, I do agree with you 100% on

Originally Posted by AustinChief

This NEVER, EVER works out well. If this is a stall tactic by Sony while they do damage control then I can completely understand... but if they REALLY are relying on certain info not getting out... they are morons.

I also don't think the Bond script is nearly as big an issue as you do. The VAST majority of people who would go see the movie will still go see it even if the script is out in the wild. I see zero reason why this would have a significant impact on sales.

I'm also sure that they are thinking about all of this on several levels, and IP is absolutely one of them. They have to have a long-term strategy for all of this, and if nothing else, with the support that shitty Rogen-Franco stoner flick is getting now, once they wait it out, it will make ten times the sales it would have before. You can't ask for better publicity than this, if you can be patient.

[007]

Originally Posted by AustinChief

Sony is getting a metric ton of hate for pulling the movie. There are people talking about boycotts etc... As a corporation it was a bonehead move if their concern was violence. That is just idiotic. #1 The vast majority of people wouldn't blame Sony ... they would blame the nutjobs #2 you are saying that it is better to avoid a ridiculously unlikely catastrophe and instead choose a guaranteed public relations disaster instead. In no world is this a good idea. Ever.

Which is why this line of thinking is probably irellevent. As Dane pointed out, this is more likely about IP than it is about violence.

Don't fool yourself. Todays media would eviscerate Sony if an attack happened. I still don't think they would have attacked anything.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Guru

I still don't think they would have attacked anything.

That's easy to say but hard to predict.

There are millions of Koreans in Los Angeles, not to mention Korea-town, which most certainly has its share of gangsters.

Even if the attack didn't end in a loss of life, it would certainly derail an otherwise profitable holiday season at the box office.