Do companies have a moral obligation to make fandom affordable?

[maczero]

I was excited to hear that Disney was opening a Star Wars themed hotel/resort. I'm a big enough fan that I was willing to pay a couple hundred for a night's stay. Turns out I was way off on that price. A two night stay for two guests is $4809. So yeah, I won't be visiting. Funny thing is I've noticed some hardcore Star Wars fans are really losing their **** over the price. I believe their beef is that Disney is screwing over the true fans by catering to the wealthy who may only have a casual interest in Star Wars. Anything wrong with this in your opinion?

[Zelena]

I don’t think it’s in Disney’s interest to make this resort affordable for fewer people… It reflects the company’s desire to cover the costs.

However if they don’t have enough customers – and I don’t think you go in this kind of place if you just have a moderate interest in Starwars, they will lower the price…

[CSTowle]

A few things. 1. Disney does not care about how much of a fan you are. Disney does not care if you are a fan at all, except in that you (or a large enough number of "you"s) buy things or pay to experience things that they provide. Whether you walked into a Disney hotel never having heard of Star Wars or if you own every piece of merchandise ever sold, can not only quote every line of every movie but also know all the related canon, have Star Wars tattoos, and have joined the official Jedi church as a padawan. Makes zero difference. Don't believe me? Watch the last trilogy again.

Would it be nice if they could accommodate fans of normal means to allow them to experience all of the things they'd surely enjoy? Sure, in a vacuum. But they're not in the business of nice (other than fooling people into thinking they're nice so they can sell them things). They're just in business. It's why you can pay to skip lines at their theme parks, pay for a "guide" to get you into places, or pay ridiculous amounts and jump through hoops (if you could get an invite, which you likely can't) to join their "Club 33".

Do I like that we live in this world, where money buys more and greater privileges for the already privileged? No. But that's the world we're living in. Might as well complain because only certain sports fans can afford the boxes or season tickets, or high-end memorabilia, or pay to meet players, etc. Heck, same could be said about paying money to get an autograph or meeting with your favorite comic creator.

Also I'd say we're not entitled to any particular experience beyond the basics anyway. It'd be nice, but at the end of the day it's a luxury. One most of us can't afford and will thus never experience. Would I love to golf with Tom Brady (well, I hate golf but you get my point) or have coffee with Alan Moore and pick his brain about my favorite comics he's responsible for? Sure. Not going to happen though. I can still enjoy the things that are available to me, and I'll bet if I could experience those things they wouldn't be as great as I'm imagining anyway, and after a while they'd probably become pretty normal. Water finds its level.

[MajorHoy]

Do companies have a moral obligation to make fandom affordable?

"Moral obligation"?

No.

Next question, please?

[GindyPosts]

Nope.

If anything, they see fans as an case study to see how high they can go before they lose out. If there is an audience willing to spend X amount of dollars for events and merchandise as a testament to their devotion, they'll take advantage of it.

[Kid Devil]

No. Sometimes companies do really care about their fans, typically smaller ones, and would try to do little things to please them but with something like Disney all they care about is the money. They figure that if you don't buy the ticket someone else will.

[JackDaw]

At some level every business has to “care” about the price if it wants to stay in business…charge too much and not enough customers rock on to make it pay, charge too little and you won’t cover your own costs, or at least profits won’t be optimised.

The price Disney are charging here certainly guarantees I won’t be taking up this offer!

But they will no doubt have done a fair amount of market research, and will be confident that they will get enough customers at that pay point to make good profit.

[DrNewGod]

It's not something we can blame on Disney. Most of civilization, and The US in particular, have pretty well abandoned the idea that extreme privilege is bad for a society, and that making advancement widely available is good for a society.

[green_garnish]

Think of it the other way around.

Do I have a moral right to expect that things I want to have and do are within my budget?

[babyblob]

Stated above they have no obligation to make things at a lower cost to please people. Companies are in business for one reason. To make money. If they can make people happy along the way great! if not they will still make their money, Look at how many people trade in a 2 year old i phone for pennies on the dollar just to get the latest thing at over 1000 bucks. it crazy but it works so companies do it.

For all the talk people have about hating big business they shop from them every day. From Marvel who is owned by Disney, they use products to go online unless they laptop/smartphone they are using is made by a small business that cares about people and the environment.

we talk about how we want something different but we buy the stuff anyway because we dont want to give up our creature comforts. "But jobs and bills are online thats what I use it for." Yet they shop Amazon and hang out on message boards. Myself including. At the end of the day we buy from the big guys but go to a farmers market or do a small business in the neighborhood to feel good about ourselves but we are really talking out of our asses because we do not want to give up our life style. And I am included. I would hate to live without my comics video games and internet. I can do it I have done it many years but I wont unless forced to and many of us in the world are the same.

I forget who it was that said this.

The business of business is profit. That is the world we live in and anyone who thinks different who thinks that is going to change is fooling themselves.

[seismic-2]

Disney wants to cover all bases, by selling stuff to as many people as possible and thereby making as much money as they can. You can buy Star Wars comic books at the entry price, or tickets to the movies (and DVDs of them) at a higher price, sets of action figures at a still higher price, a day of Star Wars rides at Disneyland at a yet higher price, all the way up to a night at the resort for the price you mention. They have no moral obligation to make everything affordable by everyone. Their obligation is to maximize their stock price, for the benefit of their investors, and they have decided that offering some products aimed at really wealthy customers will help them do that.

[babyblob]

The Only Moral obligation I thing companies have is making a good product or service for the price they charge. This is different for each person.

If I think the price is fair for what I am getting I think the company met its obligation. I got a Switch Lite a little over a year ago. I payed retail and have many games. I have put over 1100 hours inro ir since then. I have enjoyed it and it helps my mental health by giving me something to distract myself with. So it was worth the proce.

So in that respect Nintendo met its obligation for The Switch Lite.

[seismic-2]

Funny thing is I've noticed some hardcore Star Wars fans are really losing their **** over the price. I believe their beef is that Disney is screwing over the true fans by catering to the wealthy who may only have a casual interest in Star Wars.

If a hardcore fan can't afford a night at the resort, what difference should it make to him whether the people who can afford it and do go there are also hardcore fans or are just resort-fans with only a casual interest in Star Wars? Either way, they're not displacing the hardcore fans who can't afford to stay there.

[JackDaw]

I think “mixed economies” work best, where the state provides a bedrock of core services (say basic healthcare, good education for kids, and basic accommodation for those in real need)…but anything else is left to the free market.

Star Trek hotels can sensibly be left to free market….essentially I agree with babyblob, in this case Disney’s moral responsibility lies in simply being honest about what they are providing…making sure they provide what a reasonable customer would expect from their adverts, etc.

[PwrdOn]

Maybe Disney doesn't have an obligation, but you can definitely say that they are doing damage to the Star Wars brand by trying to squeeze every last red cent out of it and in the process making it inaccessible and unappealing for future generations of fans. And this is definitely a great example of how the wealth distribution in our society has become so skewed that it impacts nearly every aspect of our lives, even something which was designed as an escapist fantasy to get you away from the problems of your every day life isn't immune to the pressures of our dysfunctional economic system. At the end of the day, something like this isn't really that big of a deal, but it is the perfect symbol of the rot that's eating away at our society.