The Disney brand might be the most trusted, engaging brand in the world. Disney’s brand promise is simply about making people happy – “about wishing on stars and finding true love and living happily ever after”. The brand’s target audience is literally everybody, and its reach is truly vast, “dreamers” all over the world. And its values include diversity and inclusion, which have unfortunately become the focus of attacks by conservatives recently.
As everyone knows, politics today has become extremely polarized, often sourced by misinformation, anger and a lack of clarity. The “cancel culture” wars and related “critical race theories” have led to what critics today call “grievance politics”. Behind these colloquial buzzword titles is extensive confusion and misunderstanding of the defining claims by both conservatives and liberals. Conspiracy theories are rampant today, politicizing discussions on almost any social issue.
New Target – Disney
The latest extension of these heated culture battles is the conservative attack on the cherished Disney brand. This is noteworthy not just because Disney is such a mainstream, respected family oriented brand, but it may force the strategic managers of other popular brands to reconsider their essential values in order to avoid or minimize threats from these “cancel culture” extremists. This is indeed new territory for brand managers.
Brand success depends mainly on how its customers FEEL about it, whether they can trust and relate to the brand values. Disney is a perfect example. In a recent “brand intimacy” survey by the consultancy MBLM, Disney topped the list for building emotional bonds with consumers. The Disney brand epitomizes morality which includes progressive ideas about multiculturalism and personal identity today (e.g. diversity and inclusion of LGBTQ).
But these brand values have gotten Disney in trouble with conservatives, especially Governor DeSantis and his Republican supporters in Florida who now accuse Disney of “grooming” children – i.e. a term used to describe pedophiles. DeSantis says Disney is overstepping its morality limits, claiming “Woke Disney lost any moral authority to tell you what to do”. There are hateful accusations from other conservatives too; Representative Marjorie Taylor Green from Georgia called Disney a “pro-child predator” and is “sexualizing children”, even though she owns stock in Disney.
Disney Values Have Public Support
Like any smart brand, Disney pays attention to trends and how its support for inclusion and equality has evolved along with customer opinions. Robert Iger, the recent CEO of Disney, said in 2017 “we can take those values, which we deem important societally, and actually change people’s behavior, to get people to be more accepting of the multiple differences and cultures and races”. While a new Florida law restricts classroom instruction through third grade on sexual orientation and gender identity (i.e. the “Don’t Say Gay” law), Disney insists that inclusion of diverse identities in its entertainment stories does not turn kids gay.
The truth is that Disney’s LGBT-friendliness is supported by evolving public attitudes toward gay rights (source: Gallop):
- Support for same sex marriage to be legally recognized has grown from 27% (opposed 68%) in 1997 to 70% (opposed 29%) in 2021.
- Acceptance of gays and lesbians has emerged from 35% very/somewhat satisfied (versus 57% very/somewhat dissatisfied) in 2001 to 62% very/somewhat satisfied (versus 33% very/somewhat dissatisfied) in 2022.
Corporate America should continually review its brand values to ensure that they remain relevant as the driving force for its relationship with customers and to update and clarify them as consumer perceptions evolve over time. Although Disney zealously tries to avoid political and cultural pitfalls, it denounced this new bill which resulted in recent threats by DeSantis. Disney remains steadfast in its defense of its inclusive brand values and prudently tries to avoid such socially divisive topics. As the new CEO Bob Chapek stated, “we want Disney to be a place where people can come together, and enjoy a shared belief of Disney magic, hopes, dreams and imagination.”
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