You Can’t Fight A Feeling With A Spreadsheet (& Other Tales)

Feb 27

WE ARE SO 🤬 OVER TALKING ABOUT SEASPIRACY. But apparently, other people aren’t. So here we are. Again.

Even though the facts don’t connect, the data doesn’t add up, and anyone who follows the money trail of that movie knows exactly where it leads… we’re not here to debunk it. That’s been done. Several times.

We’re here to talk about the one thing the producers of Seaspiracy did well—tell a damn good story.

Powerful storytelling has the ability to shape perspectives, influence emotions, and drive action. People don’t cling to data; they cling to narratives that make them feel something, gives them a sense of purpose and a cause to fight for. And that’s how misinformation spreads like wildfire.

Most recently, the misinformation machine came for @MSC again, this time with a scathing Instagram reel full of out-of-context visuals, dramatic soundbites, and a clear call to action. Not a single scrap of supporting data in sight, not that it mattered. Unfortunately, facts and data don’t win battles. Stories do.

While the seafood industry may yawn at yet another tired grenade of misinformation being lobbed in their direction, viewers are not yawning. They’re watching and reacting. It’s shocking, enraging, and does a standing-ovation-worthy job of making the industry look like the villain.

The Timeless Power of Storytelling

Since time immemorial, humans have told stories, especially to give shape and substance to unknowns like the sky, the stars, and the sea. Legends, lore, and the oral traditions of seafarers were a way to communicate their experiences on the water to those who would never leave the land. It was how they made sense of the mysterious deep, even to themselves.

From Homer’s Odyssey to Great Big Sea’s popular renditions of sea shanties broadcasted around the globe, the ocean has always been an inspiration for folklore, adventure, and cautionary tales. Storytelling wasn’t just entertainment—it’s how we’ve shaped reality, passed down survival knowledge through generations, and kept wisdom alive.

And it’s still true today.

We are hard-wired to remember stories. Studies show that information presented in narrative form is 22 times more memorable than plain data. When was the last time you howled out loud at a comedy? Or felt that chest-tightening, lip-quivering reaction during a sad movie scene? We love to be moved. The folks at @PEI Seafood know this - their ‘Not Humble’ is a heart gripping masterpiece (not me getting watery eyes just thinking about it…).

PEI We’re Not Humble Video

A good story sticks long after numbers and statistics are forgotten. Facts alone fade, but a well-told story endures.

Shakespear’s Macbeth isn’t just about a Scottish king—it’s a cautionary tale about audacious entitlement and unchecked ambition.
The best seafood brand stories aren’t just about fish—they’re about tradition, craftsmanship, sustainability, adventure, and the people behind it.

We know this. Instead of trying to challenge emotion with graphs and charts, we need to interpret that data into stories relatable at the human core. What makes you laugh? What makes you cry? What makes you dream? What makes you take action?

The Danger of Letting Others Tell the Story First

The truth and science are on our side, but that isn’t enough. The people behind anti-seafood messaging understand this and they are very, very good marketers (if shady ones). They release narratives that are emotional, urgent, and simple. They provide a clear villain, offer an easy-to-understand call to action, and then repeat it over and over until people believe it. Propaganda 101.

And oh what a time in history it is to be a hater! People are overwhelmed, boiling with frustration, and looking for someone to throw rocks at. The seafood industry makes an easy target to villainize because it’s complex, misunderstood, happens out of sight, and most consumers don’t have a personal connection to where their fish comes from.

But we aren’t getting in front of these negative narratives. We stay in reaction mode or, worse, sweep it under the rug and think, “It’ll pass.” Seaspiracy, and all its self-righteous propaganda, still hasn’t, and as long as we keep taking the reactive stance, we will never get ahead. We know that seafood is not the villain. We have data that proves that seafood can be the most sustainable protein on the planet, but sharing the bare facts alone isn't the answer - sharing these truths in the shape of impactful stories is.

Taking Back the Narrative

Seafood has everything it needs to tell a better story. Each boat, farm, facility, and fish shop is full of real people with authentic experiences, centuries of history and craft, and the most sustainable, nutritious protein in the world. @Trident Seafood recognizes this and has worked with our own co-founder @Bri Dwyer to produce stunning films featuring the real life stories of the people with boots on deck and their families holding down the home on shore.

Trident - Adventure Incarnate

Our industry was literally built around storytelling. Find us a coastal town where markers of the fishing industry aren’t woven into their public art, culture, and traditions. Even today, sea shanty trends go viral on tiktok and fishermancore aesthetic is trending in 2025 fashion. The sea and its stories still draw us, and we have every opportunity and direct audience access point across the digital landscape to put these stories in the spotlight.

But somewhere along the way our voice went hoarse, and we stopped telling our stories with the same passion. Seafood has beautiful, truthful, powerfully positive stories to tell. We need to harness the will to communicate as well as our naysayers do, and grasp the urgency of doing so in a way that rings over the melee of a very loud world.

They Who Hold the Pen Hold the Power

Stories evoke emotion, and emotion drives action. The seafood industry has a stronger story: The truth. It’s time we put value in our voice and tell it with the same intensity and conviction that the anti-seafood movement tells theirs, only better, louder, prouder, and first.

Bri Dwyer

You Can’t Fight A Feeling With A Spreadsheet (& Other Tales)

The Timeless Power of Storytelling

The Danger of Letting Others Tell the Story First

Taking Back the Narrative

With Our Powers Combined: The InnaSea Media Origin Story

Seafood Is for Everybody! If You Know Who You’re Talking To…