Do companies have a moral obligation to make fandom affordable?

[CaptCleghorn]

Well, Disney could build a star wars-themed 1-star motel with no room service if they agree to make fandom affordable.

Would it have hourly rates?

[Mace Dolex]

Sadly Disney is all about greed and the mighty buck, have you ever walked into a Target or Walmart DVD/BR section and noticed that all Disney/Marvel movies are almost NEVER on sale, all other studios movies will have a sale of a few bucks off but never a Disney Bluray.

[Kirby101]

Why should they be if people will pay full price?

Wow, they are in it to make money. What company isn't?
I am very sure many of the creative people involved are doing there best artistically, but the Corporations are in it for profit, and pricing things at what the market will bear is part of it.

As I said before, none of this is essential to people. There are many essential things that must be fairly priced, fan junk ain't one of them.

[skyvolt2000]

Sadly Disney is all about greed and the mighty buck, have you ever walked into a Target or Walmart DVD/BR section and noticed that all Disney/Marvel movies are almost NEVER on sale, all other studios movies will have a sale of a few bucks off but never a Disney Bluray.

Actually that is NOT true.

It depends on what Target and Wal-Mart you go to. Also what APP you use.

When Target has 5-15% off books and dvds-Disney stuff is included. I got Miles's last book for about 20% off via the app.
One thing I do is ALWAYS check what is in the clearance isles.

I have seen Shang Chi toys at 30-90% off at the Target by my school.
I have been to others where some random sale on Marvel stuff does happen (mainly with toys). In other cases stuff gets tossed on clearance.
It really varies by what store and location you go to. Because they pass that stuff along from store to store.


Now who does Target do DIRTY???? DC Comics. Excluding Wonder Woman and Batman Brave & Bold-sale or clearance seems to be a foreign concept.
Every other toy can be sold out guess who is there untouched? Justice League Movie and even MacFarlane toys-WHO is buying those toys??

For MacFarlane aside from John Stewart and Cyborg and MAYBE WW & Harley-no one else is touching those figures. I mean every store I go to they are the ones no one is touching.

I mean the Into the Spiderverse Marvel Legends, Sam Wilson as Cap America line, Fantastic Four and X-Men (some of it) didn't last a WEEK on shelves.

[skyvolt2000]

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?

Honestly NO.

Now looking at what you get-6 meals, a TON of stuff to do, access to Disney Studios Hollywood, Valet parking and a room.

Breaking down the price between 4 ADULTS -$6000 is $1500. $2404 each for two folks.

For what you are getting I can excuse those prices to a point.



https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/new...BingNewsSearch

In a Disney third quarter company earnings call on Thursday, Disney CEO Bob Chapek was bullish about the return of business to Disney's theme parks, resorts and cruises.

That price is Disney trying to make up for the money they lost thanks to Covid.

Although the cabin arrangements seem targeted for families, media strategist Gary Snyder told TheWrap the pricing seems anything but family-friendly. "Once you move beyond the small pool of superfans, the market for this product does not exist," he said. "It does not appear as though the model that was employed here took into account a family experience…the packages almost place the children as an afterthought."

Let me put it in English

That price EXCLUDES the true money maker-Families.

Also if that price is prohibited to the number one consumer groups-you are going to have issues.

Once Disney sees that that price goes DOWN.

It might take a few years for it to happen.

[Totoro Man]

Wow, they are in it to make money. What company isn't?
I am very sure many of the creative people involved are doing there best artistically, but the Corporations are in it for profit, and pricing things at what the market will bear is part of it.

LOL!

last I checked, employees still work to get paid! they exchange their time and labor for money. seems pretty straight-forward, doesn't it?

maybe Disney should use slave labor to make this place more affordable! <sarcasm>

[GOLGO 13]

Do companies have a moral obligation to make fandom affordable?

No.

Let the market decide what is what. Disney doesn't owe me a thing. No one needs anything that Disney produces. Disney has some of the top most extremely toxic fandoms that I can think of.

As a +bonus, I find their meltdowns increasingly entertaining with each misstep the Rat makes. They truly deserve their fans.

[PwrdOn]

LOL!

last I checked, employees still work to get paid! they exchange their time and labor for money. seems pretty straight-forward, doesn't it?

maybe Disney should use slave labor to make this place more affordable! <sarcasm>

Yes, because free market capitalism, embodied by Disney of all places, is the absolute best system to ensure that workers are fairly compensated for their labor.

Also, Disney outsources a lot of its animation to work to India. Now while I would never denigrate the creative talents of Indian animators, I'm gonna go out and a limb and say that this wasn't the prime motivation for Disney going there, and that the surplus generated by the cost savings in animation probably wasn't shared with the remainder of their employees.

No.

Let the market decide what is what. Disney doesn't owe me a thing. No one needs anything that Disney produces. Disney has some of the top most extremely toxic fandoms that I can think of.

As a +bonus, I find their meltdowns increasingly entertaining with each misstep the Rat makes. They truly deserve their fans.

That's because Disney is a lifestyle brand, and like every good corporation these days, the lifestyle it promotes is completely at odds with the reality of the world and thus wholly unattainable, except perhaps to the privileged few that can afford to drop $6k to stay in a mock Star Wars hotel. This is very disconcerting to the greater mass of Disney fans who yearn to escape to that fantasy life but will never be able to do so, hence the toxicity.

[Totoro Man]

Yes, because free market capitalism, embodied by Disney of all places, is the absolute best system to ensure that workers are fairly compensated for their labor.

Also, Disney outsources a lot of its animation to work to India. Now while I would never denigrate the creative talents of Indian animators, I'm gonna go out and a limb and say that this wasn't the prime motivation for Disney going there, and that the surplus generated by the cost savings in animation probably wasn't shared with the remainder of their employees.

it's fashionable and respectable to condemn corporate greed and wickedness. it feels good. it makes us look even better.

but, in my experience, the little worker bees aren't really any better than the bosses. they simply lack the same opportunities and resources to exploit others. when given the chance some will exploit, others won't. most people will try to get away with as much as they can.

to pick one example: "they pretend to pay us. we pretend to work." although that got started in the Soviet Union... I see that happening an awful lot in the United States. most of my coworkers under the age of 25 probably spend 30 percent (or more) of their time 'on the clock' on their cell phones... texting, playing video game, etc. it also seems like middle class employees spend a fair amount of time surfing the internet while they're getting paid at work. [I'm not making personal accusations to posters here. I'm making observations about what I've seen over the last 20 years at various jobs] this isn't even restricted to the upper and middle class professions now. minimum wage employees are perfectly capable of this same sort of thing.

I'm not the sort of person that thinks it's okay to get paid for sleeping on the clock, or texting your lover, or watching movies on your smartphone on company time. but, there's nothing I can do about that. I can't try to force everybody in the world to live by my own personal ethics. that's selfish, cruel, and unrealistic.

so, my take away is this: just because the workers operate on a smaller scale than the big "evil" companies... doesn't mean that they are any more, or less, ethical.

do I condemn bus drivers, migrant workers, and fast food cashiers for trying to save money? no. in the same way, there's no need to condemn companies for REASONABLE attempts at saving money. if these savings are not putting other people at risk. [personally, I would prefer to bring back the unskilled labor we've exported overseas... but I don't expect that to happen any time soon. we would need the collapse of the global economy based on fossil fuels to take place before that happens]

would I condemn a grocery store for making a profit selling food? no. why condemn a business for their very reason for existing?

the scale of the transaction doesn't make a difference in how I view the behavior at an ethical level. some people seem utterly convinced that the market economy, as a concept, is evil. I'm not one of those people.

last month I got told that Rihanna is now worth a billion dollars. this was said to me because it was considered great that a woman of color became a billionaire. okay. good for her. she's out there making music, selling clothes, etc. she's doing something. now, some people would consider that level of income offensive.

I'm not going to get angry that somebody is making over 15,000 times more money a year than I am. why would getting angry help? what would it solve?

perhaps part of our disagreement here is... even though I'm a lowly working class scrub whose life probably doesn't mean anything in the grand scheme of things.... I don't have a problem with the fundamental inequality built into the world. I don't have enough energy to be angry about it all the time. I just accept it.

[babyblob]

^^^^^

I Agree with the above. No sense getting mad about it. Enjoy what you have rather then focus on what others have. Even more so because the anger is us talking out of our ass.

Big Companies are bad and evil, blah blah... yet everyone on this board including those who bitch about these big companies take advantage of it every day. To be on this site we have to be using a Laptop, smartphone, tablet, etc... And I am pretty damn sure there are no local mom and pop shops making these things with homemade materials.

Now I know I know people need smart phones and tablets and computers for work and school and doing things with the state and local governments. Great. I guess that is why 1000 buck smartphones just sit on the shelf.

And that is not all people even the big company haters use them for. We are on a comic book site. Which means the people are wasting time reading about comics and tv shows and all kinds of stuff. And to be here the people have to be at least a little bit of a comic book fan. Which is another big company. Even before the soul crushing Disney bought Marvel Marvel was its own company. Mismanaged a lot but yes its own big company. As was DC before Time Warner got a hold of them.

And I am sure that hanging on this board is not the only fun pointless thing these people do. Netflix, Hulu, Youtube, Insta, Snapchat, Reddit. So unless a person is staying 100 percent away from these sites they are using big companies.

We as people could give all of these things up. Just use a basic model laptop or smartphone rather then the thousand dollar model for just school, work, or official reasons but we wont. We are creatures of comfort who love to bitch about big companies and how evil they are while at the same time using their products to make our lives easier. Fact is we are all talking out of the other side of our asses.

So we can go post on this forum, or Reddit, or make angry Youtube videos. Then go look right in a mirror and say "Hey pal you are part of the problem."

Because at the end of the day most of it boils down to "I am upset this person or people had benifits I didnt for whatever reason, they have something I dont and I am mad so I will bitch about how it is unfair I cant get a stay at a tourist spot that costs 8 grand for 2 nights. or I cant get that 600 next gen game system,"

These are pointless fun time wasting luxury items that we have no right getting mad at a company making whatever price they want because we do not need them in the first place. We want them. There is a huge difference.

[GOLGO 13]

...

That's because Disney is a lifestyle brand, and like every good corporation these days, the lifestyle it promotes is completely at odds with the reality of the world and thus wholly unattainable, except perhaps to the privileged few that can afford to drop $6k to stay in a mock Star Wars hotel. This is very disconcerting to the greater mass of Disney fans who yearn to escape to that fantasy life but will never be able to do so, hence the toxicity.

Yes, let the the people decide how to skewer the Rat for all it's worth.

I love that the very fans that they so very desperately chased (adults, boys over 10) have turned on them with such venom & razor sharp teeth/talons. It's a perfect storm with the combined fury of the Fandom Menace, Marvel zombies & reliably decrepit old school Disney mouth-breathers all clamoring for the heads of the Disney overlords it's a truly glorious catastrophe.