Zero Tolerance For Franchise Destruction

LESSON ONE: THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT

The first rule taught in any free market economy and business class is: the customer is always right. Even when working at my first job, back when I was 16, the message was clear, “If the customer isn’t happy, they won’t buy your product.” This is especially true when a company is trying to “virtue signal'' and takes social positions in order to make themselves appear virtuous. The lessons that big companies are pushing are being marketed to a demographic that isn’t interested in your product or is completely non-existent. A simpler explanation is, “We are not going to buy this, even on double-coupon day.”

LESSON TWO: GET WOKE GO BROKE, RED PILLS PAY BILLS

With numerous failures that come to mind, such as but not limited to: the Gillette $5-$8 billion loss from their “Best A Man Can Get” 2019 campaign or the $4.7 billion net loss from the ESPN buyout by Disney and injecting it with identity politics, or the on-going “I’m not Starfire” and the self-sabotage of “if you don’t like my politics, don’t buy my book” and additional Hollywood failures with the Star Trek series, Doctor Who series, Star Wars series, Ghostbusters (2016), Oscar ratings, and now Kevin Smith’s Masters of the Universe: Revelation series on Netflix.

LESSON THREE: LEARN FROM PAST MISTAKES

What did Kevin Smith do to help create a Netflix $2.5 billion loss? Besides outright lying about being a big He-Man fan on two separate occasions and the bait-and-switch attempt saying the show was about He-Man when it was all about Teela. He completely butchered it - a beloved franchise - then called his critics “angry nerds that need to need to grow the f*** up” when criticized.

Mind you, this is the same Kevin Smith who made a name for himself by criticizing others in his movies, not to be confused with the same Kevin Smith who cried during a reaction video for the Force Awakens (2015). Of course, I’m sure it helped after Disney asked him to do a small cameo in the same movie.

LESSON FOUR: UNINTERESTED IN SUBVERTING MY EXPECTATIONS

The question that should be asked of Kevin Smith, when he’s not weeping openly on his YouTube channel and others like him seeking to reboot popular franchises with an established fan base: If you think you can reinvent the wheel and everything that worked well in the past, why doesn’t it fail? Many of these so-called enlightened progressives and their well-meaning idealism fail to understand what people liked about these properties in the first place. They don’t know the audience and they only know how to destroy. What do I mean about this?

LESSON FIVE: STOP REINVENTING THE WHEEL

Growing up in the 1980’s, children were being raised by selfish baby boomers. Many of the boomers were unable to cope with the stress of family life and the rate of divorces skyrocketed. Latch-key kids would throw their heavy backpacks on the floor, which were packed with 3-4 hours of homework waiting to be finished, and turn on the TV. We hoped to escape reality for an hour or so. The after-school cartoons represented a better world where hard work pays off, the hero defeats the villains, and you could count on your friends to help. Cartoons, like He-Man, were an escape.

In 2021, Kevin Smith thought he would take the previous formula and improve upon it by killing off He-Man in the first episode. Then, Smith killed off He-Man a second time in the final episode. With little understanding of what made these shows worth watching, Smith turned it into a ghost of its former glory.

CONCLUSION

Growing up in the 1980’s taught me many things, one of which: When a friend asks to borrow your toys for the night then returns them back broken, you learn to never lend them your stuff again, and warn your other friends. A message to Kevin Smith, Paul Fieg, Chris Chibnall, and the many others wishing to attack fan communities and destroy beloved properties: The more you disrespect, the more we reject.

About the author

A Texan at heart, Dr. C. Katze is a recipient of several Copy Boy awards and has written for The Grey Point of View since 2021. After experiencing life-changing travel with the US military, Dr. Katze now enjoys a sip of wine on his balcony overlooking the Bavarian sunset. Alternatively, when he is not serving as a Combat Medic for the U.S. military, Dr. Katze can be found on an Italian beach - pouring Limoncello over his ice cream - with his life-partner and their black cat.

TheGreyPointofView.com is a new style independent blog site started by American expats, like Dr. C. Katze. We cover a range of topics spanning from politics, practical ethics and more.

TheGreyPointofView.com is an independent blog on ethics, politics, Euro-life and more. Written by expats, global citizens and other interesting sapiens. If you are interested in writing with us, send us your post for review. We look forward to hearing from you.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect this site's official policy or position. To learn more about our policies visit https://www.thegreypointofview.com/legal.