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> The publishing company holds the copyrights, they make a lot of money from Roald Dahl, but they're worried about the long term prospects for that revenue stre

> The publishing company holds the copyrights, they make a lot of money from Roald Dahl, but they're worried about the long term prospects for that revenue stream due to social change. If they were following public demand, then why did they get so thoroughly blindsided by public opinion? They were clearly listening to a handful of fringe nuts and didn't actually have their finger on the pulse of the mainstream zeitgeist. They have now realized their error and are trying to backtrack from it.

anigbrowl 4y ago
Why does any company's product launch fail? Arrogance, intellectual laziness, chasing a trend off a cliff. Same way company owners sometimes check out and hand over the reins to management consultants. I am not privy to their sales data; perhaps it looks terrible and they panicked. While there has been a big backlash, I don't think adult nostalgia is as profitable as childhood enthusiasm; parents might buy Roald Dahl for their kids, but there are plenty of other authors competing for their attention.
- cld8483 4y ago
  So you're evidently privy to the company's reasoning when it comes to the initial decision to censor the books, but when it comes to the backtrack you just don't know. Got it.
  - anigbrowl 4y ago
    I didn't express any view on the backtrack. It's very obvious they realized the move was unpopular and wanted to mollify their customers. As I mentioned above, nobody asked them to do this in the first place. You seem to be projecting some idea of your own onto me.
jasonlotito 4y ago
And now there are two versions, a lot of publicity and people here in these threads recommending people buy it. > If they were following public demand, then why did they get so thoroughly blindsided by public opinion? Hey, if that's what you want to believe...
shadowgovt 4y ago
Possibly. Or they're capitalizing on the backlash by offering both options, with the added benefit that they'll get to A/B test what direction the market wants them to go.
bee_rider 4y ago
So far nothing bad has happened to them; they got a lot of press coverage and only made loud fringe people upset.

anigbrowl 4y ago

Why does any company's product launch fail? Arrogance, intellectual laziness, chasing a trend off a cliff. Same way company owners sometimes check out and hand over the reins to management consultants. I am not privy to their sales data; perhaps it looks terrible and they panicked. While there has been a big backlash, I don't think adult nostalgia is as profitable as childhood enthusiasm; parents might buy Roald Dahl for their kids, but there are plenty of other authors competing for their attention.

cld8483 4y ago
So you're evidently privy to the company's reasoning when it comes to the initial decision to censor the books, but when it comes to the backtrack you just don't know. Got it.
- anigbrowl 4y ago
  I didn't express any view on the backtrack. It's very obvious they realized the move was unpopular and wanted to mollify their customers. As I mentioned above, nobody asked them to do this in the first place. You seem to be projecting some idea of your own onto me.

jasonlotito 4y ago

And now there are two versions, a lot of publicity and people here in these threads recommending people buy it. > If they were following public demand, then why did they get so thoroughly blindsided by public opinion? Hey, if that's what you want to believe...

shadowgovt 4y ago

Possibly. Or they're capitalizing on the backlash by offering both options, with the added benefit that they'll get to A/B test what direction the market wants them to go.

bee_rider 4y ago

So far nothing bad has happened to them; they got a lot of press coverage and only made loud fringe people upset.