The Disney Renaissance and the Culture Industry

This is a revision of my last blog post, which sort of missed the point about how the “Culture Industry” of Disney affected the development of the Disney Renaissance. I believe that Beauty and the Beast, like many of the movies that our generation grew up watching as a part of the Disney Renaissance, were a direct result of the Disney Brand.

While doing initial research, I stumbled upon something very interesting and no less surprising: Disney introduced something called the “Disney Baby Initiative,” a program that aims to get new mothers into the Disney culture industry. They intend to accomplish this task by sending Disney representatives into 580 different maternity hospitals and give away a free Disney Cuddly Bodysuit. The goal of this program is to get more mothers to be aware of a Disney product and hopefully fall into the brand and buy more and more. This is shocking practice and the clearest definition of brainwashing by a corporation. But it doesn’t stop there; Disney also owns Baby Einstein, which markets DVD’s and other products to new parents who want their children to grow into intelligent young children without having to do the proper parenting work.

From these two practices, as a part of the Disney Baby Initiative, we can see that the culture industry of Disney is more of an indoctrination of the Disney lifestyle and brand upon the innocent and gullible. As a child, I was exposed to the Disney brand through movies like Beauty and Beast, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Heucules. But I believe that Disney is transforming from a corporation that makes movies that consumers want to see t to a corporation that forces the Disney culture industry on the newborn.

This is a frightening prospect, especially since this plan is outlined in the Walt Disney Company’s Investor Conference in 2011. Andy Mooney, the Chairman of Disney Consumer Products Worldwide, said that “We believe The Walt Disney Company has a real opportunity to develop a direct connection with first-time moms. The lifetime value of connecting with new families is perhaps more valuable to Disney than any other brand.” He goes on to say that in order to gain a larger market share, Disney needs to “win an infant.” This kind of rhetoric is seemingly opposite of the Disney Brand I grew up knowing. It is more of the gritty business practices that go on behind closed doors (even if it is at a public investor conference).

The Disney Renaissance exemplifies what I believe to be the public side of Disney, while this new Baby Initiative is more of the culture industry that they don’t want you to see. In my opinion, the Renaissance defined the Disney brand and helped it achieve cultural significance, while the Disney Corporation of today is trying to infiltrate culture instead of simply influencing it. I think tis a dangerous program and I hope that others realize how this sort of culture industry has the potential to brainwash our children into a brand that has diverted from the Disney we knew as children.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_Renaissance

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/07/business/media/07disney.html?pagewanted=all

http://corporate.disney.go.com/investors/presentations/2011_investor_conference/2011_Investor_Conference_Transcript_5_consumer_products.pdf