Dear Soap Fans,
We regret to inform you that Soap Opera Mania on tour has been postponed indefinitely.
If you have already purchased tickets for an upcoming event, WE WILL BE REFUNDING YOUR MONEY IN FULL DURING THE NEXT SEVERAL WEEKS. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this causes you.
We are disappointed that the tour must be put on hold. Our mission has never wavered: our goal is to bring you a first class, unforgettable, interactive fan event with today’s biggest stars. But we know that soap fans nationwide much they want to attend Soap Opera Mania on tour, the current economic circumstances prohibit many from being able to afford attendance at this time.
We want every soap fan who wants to attend to be able to attend. So rather than continue the tour where only some of you can come, we are going to postpone our plans until everyone who wants to come can do so.
We don’t want anyone’s ability or decision to attend to be a burden when we created this tour to be a fun, entertaining, fantasy-filled experience for each of you.
With our sincerest apologies,
Michael S. Gold - President
Soap Opera Mania on tour
I blogged about this event earlier this year wondering how it could thrive in such a bad economy and questioning if this was the right time to launch such a venture. I love the concept of bringing soap actors to various cities, but with soap ratings lagging and people losing their jobs it didn't seem like a good combination for success. Let's hope things turnaround and Soap Opera Mania or some similar venture can re-launch in the future.
Well, this was an interesting concept.
ReplyDeleteSoap stars, usually 1-2, have been doing mall tours forever. In the most common model, it has been paid for by the mall, or the Sears opening that day, or even the local auto show. In each case, the idea was to bring in large numbers of women who might then stay and shop (or, in the case of the autoshow, let their male partners look under the hood).
We could call this the "advertiser supported soap public appearance".
Alas, like advertiser supported media and events everywhere...they're on the downswing. Moreover, for better or worse, shrinking and aging soap audiences may mean that public appearances are not enough to fill the mall or whatever.
So, I thought Soap Opera Mania was an interesting way to keep the public appearance going, but in a user-supported way. But, as you predicted, the financials are not supportive of that. Not only do people feel unable to pay--but not enough of them are left to pay.
Roger is the optimist, and I'm ... not really so. So, for me, the regrettable failure of this venture is another sign for me that this genre is approaching sunset.
I'll go take my Elavil now :)