Posted on I-Report, CNN.com
On April 14th, 2011, Disney/ABC announced cancellation of the decades-old shows All My Children and One Life to Live. They were cancelled due to low ratings (in the age 18 to 49 demographic) and because the main demographic was over the age of 49.
The fans were shocked and stunned. These shows are national treasures that covet millions of fans. The storylines intertwine with the storylines of millions of fan's lives. Multiple generations of families have quietly called Pine Valley and Llanview their second homes. Quietly until now...
For many fans the characters in these shows are the only companions they have. For some, these shows provide a brief escape from the daily pressures and stress of their lives. These towns are their towns and these stories are their stories. Mothers at home with small children plan naptimes around their soaps, a little oasis in the middle of their day. Warehouse break rooms air soaps during lunch breaks. Consultants DVR soaps to watch in the evening or on weekends after they've been travelling all week. Soaps are often the common ground that brings strangers together, examining, discussing, and even debating the latest developments.
For senior citizens, or the over age 49 demographic as they are referred to, the news was especially difficult. Many had been loyal fans for over four decades, since the onset of these shows. Now, in their later years, they introduced these stories to their children, their grandchildren, and even their great-grandchildren. These shows have been entwined in generations of family history and have helped bridged the generation gap for many families.
As a result of these cancellations, the fans were galvanized. They immediately took to the social networks, email, and phones contacting Disney, ABC, their affiliates and sponsors. Disney and ABC had expected some backlash and were prepared to weather the storm.
Then, the fans organized. There are millions of fans of each of these shows and millions more of the genre. They realized their strength in numbers and began a focused effort on convincing sponsors and affiliates to withdraw their support of Disney/ABC. They also boycotted all Disney/ABC programming except the soap operas. Dancing with the Stars, ABC's highest rated show, dropped 13 percentage points the first airing after the protest began and overall ABC viewership was down. They began a systematic, targeted campaign focused on specific sponsors each day while contacting affiliates at the same time. They had interviews and press releases.
One of the first targets of the campaign was Hoover. On Monday, April 18th, 2011, four days after the Disney/ABs announcement, Hoover was inundated with emails, social network postings and phone calls. Hoover Vice President of Marketing, Brian Kirkendall, released a statement. In it he acknowledged the outpouring of support for these shows and the fans' commitment to them. He shared his mother and wife's reactions and that of many in the Hoover company family. Then, in solidarity, he announced that Hoover would be pulling all advertising from ABC by April 22nd, 2011, if not sooner.
Disney/ABC and other sponsors were stupefied. Pulling support because a show was cancelled instead of the other way around was literally unheard of. Disney/ABC made a statement about how counter-intuitive that was for Hoover to do. The fan response was viral. The fans clogged email and phone lines with appreciation. Then they started showing their loyalty. They started buying Hoovers. They told their friends to buy Hoovers. Hoover enjoyed the largest wave of customer acceptance and loyalty it its history. No amount of marketing dollars could pay for this. On April 22, the Hoover Buy call is going out. Thousands of fans are set to buy Hoover products to show their appreciation for Hoover's support. It is set to change the course of marketing and advertiser focus.
On April 26th, 2011, there are mass rallies planned across the country. Fans can join the movement on Facebook at Protest ABC Across America.
Fans are angry and they are inspired. At some point, Disney/ABC will be forced to address this, it is simply getting too big and gaining too much momentum for them to ignore. When they do, their first order of business will need to be a heartfelt apology to all their viewers, the shows' fans, and to senior citizens in this country in particular. That apology of course needs to be followed by either an announcement reinstating and supporting the shows or announcement of their move to another network. Disney/ABC is prolonging the inevitable at this point and they are causing more damage to themselves every day they refuse to reverse their decision.
There have been calls to bring down the Mouse and these fans have lists of every major investor, shareholder, board member, holding, affiliate, advertiser and sponsor that the Mouse has and they are already using them. Steve Jobs is being blasted with fan emails pleading for his support because of his holdings in Disney. There has been much damage done to Disney/ABC's image to-date because of poor business decisions and statements. Fans are calling for the firing of Brian Frons and Anne Sweeney. Without this, there is no real support for this audience and genre. Their actions and the statements of Brian Frons have been derogatory, demeaning and inflammatory to even the quietest of fans.
There is no way to undo the damage they have caused or the negative perception of Disney/ABC customers. Walt Disney's image is not a corporate commodity. He was a person who stood for honesty, respect, and integrity. These are not qualities the fans feel Ms Sweeney and Mr Frons understand.
Disney/ABC has a tremendous opportunity here. If they think outside the box like Hoover did, they could turn this around and begin to live up to the name they operate under. Fans would love to support Disney/ABC. They are cancelling treasured vacations, going dark with favorite programming, and not buying products they would love to buy. With serious changes in thinking, attitude, and personnel Disney/ABC may be able to slow this runaway train.
The longer Disney/ABC allows this to continue, the easier it is going to get to do without these things Disney and find alternatives to them.
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