Disney’s Reputation Falls Further
It’s been a rough few years for the Walt Disney Company and fans. After its reputation plummeted in the influential Axios Harris Poll last year, it fell further in 2023. This looks at why Disney is so polarizing and how it compares to other controversial companies. Plus, our commentary about causes and solutions for the brand damage in what’s essentially a sequel to last year’s Is Disney Ruining Its Reputation?
For the second straight year, the most controversial issue in 2023 has been the company’s public standoff with Walt Disney World’s home state, with an ongoing “battle” between CEO Bob Iger and Governor DeSantis. This is once again making headlines in the mainstream media, and culminated in Disney suing DeSantis and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD) suing Disney.
This standoff intensified as DeSantis soft-launched his presidential campaign, and sought to make an example of Disney as a symbol of Hollywood hypocrisy and a California company trying to unduly influence political and social issues. The company has also done itself no favors in resolving this conflict, as the now-infamous Development Agreements between Disney and Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID) made national news for use of the “King Charles Clause”, which effectively revived scrutiny and this whole saga.
None of this is any big secret to those who follow the Walt Disney Company or even watch the nightly news, so probably no need to further rehash the details in what will already be a long post. Regardless of where you fall on the ideological or political spectrum, you no doubt are cognizant of the controversies swirling around the company for the last couple years.
This is reflected by Disney’s standing in the Axios Harris Poll 100 and 2023 Corporate Reputation Rankings. Rather than recovering after a dismal showing last year, the Walt Disney Company has fallen further in these rankings. In fact, there’s one major way the results this year are even worse than last year.
While there are a lot of corporate and brand power rankings, this particular poll by Axios Harris is viewed as influential within the industry. That includes with Bob Iger, who according to the Wall Street Journal, based some of his fears that his successor/predecessor Bob Chapek was killing the soul of the company on last year’s results in this same poll.
Iger believed that Chapek was a failure in the most important measures of success for a CEO: internal satisfaction, investor relations and consumer support. An internal survey of Disney found low morale among Cast Members, which concerned Iger. He also closely followed the Axios Harris Poll, believing last year’s results demonstrated that fans were “falling out of love” with the Disney brand.
Suffice to say, the Axios Harris Poll is important to the company and its CEO (Disney touted being one of the highest-ranking companies on the poll as recently as 2019). There’s no way to spin this or paint it in a positive light: the results are bad (again) for Disney.
This is based on a survey of over 16,000 Americans in a nationally representative sample, and uses a two-step process to determine the rankings. Here’s the good tier (in green) from the 2023 Corporate Reputation Rankings from the Axios Harris Poll 100 where Disney lands:
For 2023, Walt Disney Company had a score of 70.9, which is down 12 spots from last year but still in the “good” tier of the list. (Once again, timing comes into play–this poll was conducted during the ‘King Charles Clause’ saga, when it would’ve been freshest in minds and mainstream headlines.)
Last year, Disney scored 73.4 and ranked 65th on the list, which was a drop of 28 spots as compared to 2021–meaning that the company is down 40 spots in the course of 2 years. For the duration of Bob Iger’s first tenure as CEO (through 2019), Disney had scored above 80, always near the top of the list in the “Excellent” tier. Here’s a look at how that changed prior to last year–see if you can spot the trend:
Below is Disney’s 2023 breakdown in the individual category scores of Character, Trajectory, Trust, Culture, Ethics, Citizenship, Vision, Growth, and Products & Services. On the plus side, at least the ‘trajectory’ is high–suggesting there is optimism with the return of CEO Bob Iger.
To put this into perspective, Disney scored ~13 points behind the #1 ranking Patagonia, and scored 10 points behind ever company in the top 10. Other companies with similar declines on the 2023 ranks were Hobby Lobby, Dollar Tree, Netflix, IBM, Taco Bell, and McDonald’s. The company with the biggest year-to-year drop was Tesla, which fell 50 slots.
Before delving into the commentary, it’s worth noting that there’s a lot of inconsistency in the rankings. In isolation, it makes sense that Disney would’ve dropped again. However, the dramatic improvements for American Express, Costco, Chick-fil-A, Nike, CVS, JPMorgan, GM, etc. are all less obvious.
As mentioned last year, it’s possible that the Harris Poll is a flawed way to rank certain high profile companies and a good way to rank other ones. Most Americans are both aware of and like their local grocery store chains, automobiles, and consumer electronics. The average American probably doesn’t know much about those corporations; they’re aware of the brand, but clueless about its business machinations. That could explain why many of these companies yo-yo around the rankings. Then there’s Chick-fil-A and Nike, which likely benefit from being another year removed from their last controversies.
By contrast, there are companies like Disney where the reputation is part and parcel of the brand itself. There are several lifestyle brands like this, that have actual enthusiasts and a wider degree of awareness among the general public. Aside from Disney, companies that come to mind here include Apple, Starbucks, Nike, Tesla, Patagonia, and Trader Joe’s. There are undoubtedly others, as well.
For these companies, movement in the rankings might be much more meaningful. It’s less likely at random, and more likely reflective of how the core audience views the company’s recent actions. That Tesla dropped so much in a year when its CEO became an increasingly polarizing figure is thus unsurprising. (Even after that dramatic decline, Tesla is still higher than Disney.)
To that point, Disney was ranked as the fifth-most polarizing brand of 100 in the 2023 Axios Harris reputation survey, measured by the gap between the assessments of Republican and Democratic respondents. Among Democrats, Disney jumped to 80.3 from 72.5. Conversely, the company plunged 14 points with Republicans, to 61 from 75.
According to Axios, the average reputational gap between Republicans and Democrats in this year’s survey was 4.4. In Disney’s case, it was 19.3. Disney’s reputation score has been declining in recent years, but that trend line had been bipartisan until 2023. This is the first year of a notable gap between political parties.
Other companies in the ‘most polarizing’ rankings were the Trump Organization, Fox, Hobby Lobby, FTX, Pfizer, Facebook/Meta, TikTok, Twitter, and Chick-fil-A. The reasons why most of those would make the list are likely self-evident–they’re divisive along political lines for obvious reasons.
However, I’ve gotta wonder who, exactly, has a favorable opinion of FTX? (That has to be a lack of awareness–hatred of FTX should transcend politics.) I’m also surprised that there’s a gap for TikTok and, to a lesser extent, Facebook. Anyone who thinks Disney is on par with or worse than that trio is flatly wrong.
Given the current politicization of everything and hyper partisanship, some people will no doubt use these survey results to vindicate their preexisting beliefs about Disney’s forays into social issues. That is undermined at least to some extent by the rankings of countless companies that have likewise taken stances on social and political issues.
The #1 ranking Patagonia is among America’s most activist corporations, loudly proclaiming its politics. On the other end of the spectrum is Chick-fil-A, which ranked #5 this year. Other high-ranking companies have been embroiled in social and political problems.
Equally as notable, Patagonia made the top 5 lists for both Republicans and Democrats. Axios also notes that older generations of both political persuasions rank John Deere highly, while rural residents of all varieties love 3M, and suburban shoppers have an affinity for Costco. (Disliking $1.50 hot dogs is distinctly unpatriotic.)
One way to reconcile how well those brands perform as contrasted with the Walt Disney Company is the constant controversy around the latter. Consumers know where Patagonia, Chick-fil-A, and other brands stand–but it’s not in their faces on a weekly basis. Many people might thus be willing to overlook that if they want a superior down sweater or delicious chicken sandwich, even if they’re not ideologically-aligned with those brands.
This might come as a surprise to those on the front lines of the culture wars, but most people aren’t actively engaged with this stuff. It’s only brought to their attention when making the nightly news or perpetual headlines. By and large, average Americans do not want or need validation of their beliefs by big businesses.
That’s a good segue into how Disney can fix its slide. The obvious answer is to diffuse and deescalate the current standoff between Walt Disney World and CFTOD, Iger and DeSantis. From the perspective of the company’s reputation, the sooner this stops making headlines, the better.
This is not to say that’s the “right” thing to do–it’s not a value judgment in any shape or form. It’s simply viewing this feud through the narrow lens of the company’s reputation, and acknowledging that it has inflicted brand damage on Disney.
(Frankly, I’m not even sure unilateral deescalation is possible. As we’ve repeatedly pointed out, this is largely political theater aimed at giving red meat to the base and raising political profiles–not actual governing or public policy. There was radio silence from Disney for several months late last year and in early 2023, and they were still a punching bag during that time.)
Beyond that, there’s the reality that quality will always win out. In our commentary to last year’s version of this post, we looked at a high-profile string of Disney’s box office bombs, in particular Lightyear and Strange Worlds, and how the narrative that emerged around those is that they failed due to having certain agendas.
Our view was and is that they failed because they were not good. A lot of ‘movies with messages’ succeeded last year; many vapid blockbusters flopped. (When in doubt, employ Occam’s razor.) Nevertheless, there’s a cottage industry built around fanning the flames on culture wars. Movies underperforming only add fuel to the fire, and strong box office results throw water on that.
(In the media sphere, the best example refuting this notion is HBO. For as long as I can remember, most of their original programming has had obvious ideology. Very few normal viewers cared, though, because the shows were so good. It wasn’t until hits had bad seasons or there were high-profile flops for that to be attributed to an agenda.)
Disney will have its own ‘case study’ of sorts this weekend. Whether the steady-stream of outrage fodder continues for The Little Mermaid hinges almost entirely on its Memorial Day box office results. If it falls short, that’s viewed as vindication and there’s a deluge of YouTube videos and rants. If it hits $100 million for the opening weekend, that dries up–the results won’t fit the preconceived narrative. (That dynamic alone should show how stupid, exhausting, and manufactured this all is.)
In a nutshell, the easiest way to quiet these criticisms on the film front is producing a steady string of hits. While I don’t think the flops have actively hurt Disney’s reputation to the degree certain commentators suggest, I do think that the undeniably uneven output of Star Wars, Marvel, and animated content hasn’t helped.
People largely ignore content that doesn’t appeal to them but actively embrace what does resonate, especially on an emotional level–the hallmark of Disney’s past successes. There’s probably a reason why Disney’s reputation peaked when it was cranking out hit-after-hit in the MCU, plus animated modern masterpieces including Frozen, Moana, Zootopia, Inside Out, Coco, etc. (As much as I personally hate them, I have to admit that the live action remakes during that stretch were also a good ‘reminder’ to audiences of what they love about Disney.)
Then there’s Walt Disney World and Disneyland. The last couple of years have seen sky-high attendance, suggesting consumers aren’t actually voting with their wallets to “boycott” Disney. At that same time, there have been a number of changes negatively impacting the guest experience.
We’ve repeatedly mentioned that guest satisfaction scores at Walt Disney World started dropping precipitously in Fall 2021–before Disney vs. DeSantis–that would track with the company’s nonpartisan reputational decline prior to this year. The discrepancy between attendance and satisfaction can be explained largely by pent-up demand, and the reality that many visitors don’t know what they’re getting themselves into until they actually visit the parks. (Hence the lower satisfaction and intent to revisit scores after their trips!)
This has also led to us repeatedly harping on the shortsightedness of the company prioritizing short-term financial success over cultivating an audience of loyal, long-term fans. From our perspective, this is the crux of the biggest issue for the Walt Disney Company. This perspective is reinforced by Disney seeing significant reputation drops in 2020-2022, years in which Axios indicates there was not political polarization in the company’s scores.
It’s pretty wild to now think of 2019 as the halcyon days of Walt Disney World and Disneyland, but with the benefit of hindsight, they were. Go ahead and watch this great ad from 2015, which underscores just how much has changed about the guest experience. Disney’s Magical Express, free FastPass and MagicBands, reservations-free visits, unlimited Park Hopping, and the Disney Dining Plan are unavailable…at least, for now (and while the survey was conducted).
That’s just a partial list. There have also been the countless price increases, resulting in an over 40% increase in guest spending. If you want a rundown or refresher, see this list of the biggest Walt Disney World fan complaints and that post’s most recent comments for insight into why so many fans are disgruntled.
The good news is that all of this, too, is fixable. Chapek hand-waved away concerns about guest satisfaction, bluntly stating that demand was the driver of price increases and that consumers were voting with their wallets. “It’s all up to the consumer. If consumer demand keeps up, we’ll act accordingly,” he said.
By contrast, it was pretty clear upon returning that Bob Iger wasn’t wild about how things had gone under Chapek and the degree to which there was disillusionment among fans. A little over a month after returning, he started moving on that sentiment by announcing 3 Big Changes at Walt Disney World to Improve Guest Experience & Value. A few months later came the announcement of 5 Major Improvements for 2024 at Walt Disney World.
Those things will undo most of the major complaints we’ve heard in the last few years from Walt Disney World visitors. That alone will create a stronger impression of the company in the eyes of consumers and fans.
Disney has also abandoned the highly-priced and controversial Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser (something we specifically pointed to last year as being polarizing and unpopular with fans despite its quality). They should do the same with the $100,000 private jet Disney Parks worldwide “adventure” and the new Cotino Storyliving by Disney community on the outskirts of Palm Springs, two other Chapekian initiatives that garnered a ton of negative attention.
The company would be well-advised to stop pursuing such projects in the future that only reinforce the notion that the notion that Disney has abandoned its middle class roots and is chasing the wealthy. Whether true or not, it’s a terrible look and one that comes with minimal upside. There were 75 slots on that private jet trip, and probably only a few hundred homes in that stupid subdivision–meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of ordinary Americans have read or heard about these one-percenter plans.
It’s one thing to be an aspirational middle class brand–people don’t mind upmarket theme parks or cruise ships. But there is a line, and Disney used to be better about not crossing it. Or at least, not doing so in such a highly-visible, in-your-face manner.
Lower prices and crowds will also help, as will guests feeling like they’re actually valued, and not just being nickel and dimed to death. As we’ve mentioned repeatedly, Walt Disney World already has released over a dozen different discounts for 2023, which is more than were available for the entirety of last year. In addition to this, new Annual Pass sales resumed (and have not yet stopped!) and more is being done to show appreciation to fans and locals, from new discount ticket offers to VIPassholder Days.
On the company’s latest earnings call, CFO Christine McCarthy warned of a slowdown at Walt Disney World in the coming quarters. This is already happening, with a higher than normal post-spring break attendance drop, resulting in the Slowest Six Weeks for Walt Disney World Crowds Since 2021. While “shoulder season” is always slower than spring break or summer, current crowds are off by roughly 20-25% as compared to the same weeks last year.
Part of what’s happening at Parks & Resorts right now is undoubtedly an ‘Operation Chapek Cleanup,’ and another part is a drop in demand necessitating guest-friendly changes. Pent-up demand lasted longer than anticipated, and frankly, it was a distortion that had unhealthy consequences at Walt Disney World and beyond.
Putting that in the rearview mirror is good for consumers and the long-term health of the company–especially its reputation and guest goodwill. Walt Disney World not doing record-breaking numbers regardless of the guest-unfriendly decisions and changes they make–and instead having to actually compete for customers–is a good thing. Chapek would’ve been well-advised to appreciate that even as “revenge travel” created so much success.
It’s downright paradoxical. High attendance and spending at Walt Disney World was not indicative of high satisfaction or a stronger reputation for the company–the opposite was true in actuality. Now, lower attendance and spending at Walt Disney World are leading to positive changes that almost assuredly will improve satisfaction and undo brand damage, and are not indicative of boycotts or brand damage. In both cases, pent-up demand (or lack thereof) was or is the root cause.
The other good news for Disney is that improvement is possible if they make a good faith effort to right the ship, as the general public has short memories when it comes to controversies. In spending way too much time studying the Harris 100 lists between 2018 and 2023, one thing that became clear is that most damage is not fatal. Negative headlines are most impactful the closer they coincide with the survey window, and become increasingly irrelevant as time passes.
Multiple companies have bounced back the year after big scandals, forgotten from memories as the outrage du jour long since moved on to something else. Unless a company is out there regularly spilling oil on baby seals, reputational recovery is achievable. Long-standing image and general business practices matter a lot more than temporary mistakes. As should be the case–ethics and missteps are not the same.
Bob Iger is undoubtedly aware of this and the company’s missteps in the last year–some of his deferential and concialtory responses to questions during the 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders indicated as much. The brand damage and falling guest satisfaction scores from the Chapek era are also precisely why some of the aforementioned moves have been made at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Now, it’s time to put the rest of the controversies in the rearview mirror, deescalating high-profile public battles where possible, and making every effort to ensure the company is producing excellent content. Quality will always win out.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What’s your take on Disney’s declining reputation? Think the company can bounce by making fewer headlines and producing high-quality content? Hope the DeSantis vs. Disney battle starts to de-escalate soon? Will the guest friendly changes made earlier this year–with more on the horizon for 2024–coupled with lower crowds and more discounts result in higher happiness among Walt Disney World and Disneyland visitors?
Regardless of your perspective on the reasons for Disney’s brand damage, please keep the comments civil. This is not the place for politically-charged arguing, antagonism, personal attacks, or perpetuating pointless culture wars. There’s a way to tactfully convey points touching on politics and social issues without being disrespectful or disparaging. Without regard for viewpoint, we will delete comments that cross the line, are lacking in decorum or don’t attempt to thoughtfully contribute to the conversation. If you wish to rudely shout your anger into the internet abyss or troll for controversy, that’s why Facebook was invented.
There have been a lot of thoughtful, well worded comments on this and I appreciate the mostly civil tone. When I was a young mother in the 80’s (or was it the early 90’s?) Disney began offering health benefits to same sex partners of their employees. At the time, NOBODY was doing that and it was big news. Disney has been a progressive company for a very long time and there should be no shame(or retaliation) for making a stand for their employees. My husband is an early cast member and our emotional commitment to Disney is quite strong. We got engaged there. We honeymooned there. We scrimped and saved to take a vacation there every 5 years or so with the children and finally, just before retirement (which we felt was the most financially stupid thing we could possibly do, but don’t regret it), we purchased DVC. In the car/plane on the way home, we were always dreaming of the next trip, but our January 2022 trip was so stressful with massive crowds, restaurants not open, ridiculous lines and worst of all, the price gouging, we came home with a very bitter taste in our mouths. It was the first time in 40 years of marriage that we had no driving urge to return. We were particularly appalled at the whole Genie+ ordeal. Yes, I know some of you love it, but we have already paid an arm and a leg for admission and to pay an additional $15-$20 per person to operate a clunky app and further denigrate the experience of being in the parks, was beyond the pale. There is no way on God’s Green Earth I will pay for a Lightening Lane! We have been back twice since then, of course. We will probably always go back. It’s just the two of us now and we don’t have to pay for everything X 5, but it’s still a bitter pill that we pay more and get less. Perhaps this is why there is a drop in the ratings.
Does anyone go back far enough to remember when there was only one park, free admission and you paid for each ride? E-Ticket anyone?
Yes, yes, yes! That E ticket was the most magical thing ever! It always meant the Haunted Mansion to me. Does anyone go back far enough to remember the Fiesta Fun Center at the Contemporary? They had a shooting gallery in there too, like the one in the park. My brothers and I lived in there. And we had the time, too, because there was only one park. I miss that time, the E tickets, eating breakfast at the Pueblo Room at the Contemporary while looking in awe at the mosaic tiles, the friendliness of the staff, the cleanliness of the park, River Country, the smell of the waterfall at the Polynesian. Good times.
If I remember that arcade was in the lowest level where check in isnow, over in tne back left corner.
Yes, it was! I think it’s a steakhouse now.
I agree that they just price you out of everything.
I also think they need to go back to the prince who saves the princess! It was wholesome movies. Now a days you have to monitor everything your children, grandchildren watch. I would never think in 1000 years I would have to with Disney. Everyone has a right to their own lifestyle BUT We don’t have to have it in our faces.
They need to stay out of politics and social matters and go back to what Walt Disney intended this company to be!!! Wholesome for the whole family at affordable prices
In today’s world “affordable prices” are pretty subjective but there’s nothing wrong with a prince rescuing a princess or even a princess rescuing a prince. In its own way, even in cartoons, Disney used to be pretty much an advocate of romantic love.
I would love to see them go back to the magic of the 2015 days. That was what I think made Disney Special. We recently bought into the Disney Vacation Club and at this point in time I am wondering if it was a mistake given the down hill spiral and I am worried with where this company will be in 10 to 15 years if the trend continues. I noticed the employee were not quite as cheerful last year as they were a few year ago. I love Disney and really want it to again be the magic place is was instead of the “nickel and dime” environment it is now. Happy customers and happy staff makes a company great.
Too bad 76% of people are so gullible.
Or maybe 24% are clueless?
If I had to describe Disney’s problem right now in one word it would be: Arrogance. I think this is why so many people seem to be cheering every negative thing that happens to Disney–they want them to be humbled so they will change direction.
In the parks: We can do whatever we want and the guests will still come and pay whatever we charge
In the movies: We are so successful that people will watch our movies regardless of their quality. Because of this, we can spend time during the movie talking about whatever the executives care about and people will have to sit through it.
In the TV shows: People will watch whatever we put on D+! So…let’s make a bunch of shows that are named after our movie characters but actually feature an entirely different main character. It will be cheaper.
In public: We Disney executives are such smart, good people that we don’t have political beliefs. If we believe it, then it’s right. It’s not politics–it’s our omnipotence. Therefore we can speak for the entire company about what is right because it’s not an opinion at all–we are too smart and good to have opinions. This is just what is right.
D+: A lot of people signed up! Surely this growth will last forever!
Arrogance says “I don’t have to please the customer”. Arrogance says “we’ll decide what they should watch”. Arrogance says “I speak for the whole company”. Arrogance says “people will watch anyway”.
Humility says “What can we do to make them want to come back?” Humility says “What movies and shows do people want to watch?” Humility says “Sure we may get more viewers if we name the show Hawkeye or Loki, but we shouldn’t bait and switch our customers.” Humility says “There are tens of thousands of us at the company–maybe we don’t all share the same opinions.” Humility says “this growth is great but it could end at any time–how do we keep the customers hooked?”
I can’t help but smile when I see the stock go down, but I am still going to the parks twice this year. I want Disney to succeed in the end, and that seems to mean they need to suffer for a while.
Keith. This was the most intelligent comment I’ve read. You really DID nail it.
Spot on! I’ve been a Disney fan since childhood and continue to be but I’m disappointed in the company as a whole. Laziness. Remaking movies and changing details to fit an agenda rather than creating new content.
Very thoughtful reply… and spot on.
Funny,I see decant is is the one with the arrogance issue,not Disney.
Disneyworld has LGBTQ Cast Members. Chapek.kept his mouth shut until employees staged a walk out. If you don’t stand up.against bigots whose entire desire is for gay and trans people not to exist, you are not a decent human being or company.
Easy to namecall, Facts are missing. There was nothing bigoted about anything DeSantis did. Provide facts.
Oh, and the walkout was over wages.
Excellent observation Keith, wow. Nailed it.
You are on point with everything, wish someone with that mindset took a leadership role on the company.
I think you nailed Keith. Especially the CEO speaking for 200,000 employees and millions of shareholders as to what they all socially believe is correct and right.
I’ll just say up front that I’m on DeSantis’ side on this one.
Having given that proviso, that’s not the reason for Disney’s ongoing reputational problems. The real issue is that customers, rightly or wrongly, perceive that Disney is reducing quality while also raising prices. The fight with DeSantis is affecting Disney’s reputation only because of the perception that Disney is concentrating on everything but its quality. So when Disney comes across as a greedy corporation (again, rightly or wrongly) then people will tend not to be sympathetic to said company.
As someone who is not on the side of DeSantis, I just wanted to reach across the isle because this is very well said.
Real simple. Focus on the the customer base and stay out of politics. Disney will bounce back eventually, it’s already realized it was headed down the wrong path, hence new management. We wish them the best!
Except it really is not new management. It all started during Iger’s tenure and now he is back after he and the board failing to have a successful succession plan.
Well, not only he thinks that, but 76% of the people who voted in that election did too!
I think it’s actually very simple.
There were a lot of people, like me, who had to cancel trips during COVID and were keen to get back (hence the surge of pent up demand and spending). When we got there for our much-anticipated return trips, however, there was a lot of disappointment. No Magical Express, no dining plan, and most importantly, Genie+ was so much more work than FP+. The result? Instead of booking our next (previously annual) trip to Disney, we booked an all inclusive.
Consumers are voting with their wallets, there was simply a lag as that pent up demand worked through the system.
There was an opportunity to capitalize on that and thrill guests making their return “home”, but Disney chose the opposite route, and took squeezed out every nickel and dime they could with little regard for the experience. You reap what you sow.
I will not be spending my travel dollars in Florida any time soon, so perhaps we will explore a trip to the west coast when we decide we’re ready to return…
Spot on!
You are right on, Allison. And I absolutely agree with Tom’s comment of “This has also led to us repeatedly harping on the shortsightedness of the company prioritizing short-term financial success over cultivating an audience of loyal, long-term fans. From our perspective, this is the crux of the biggest issue for the Walt Disney Company.” This IS the biggest issue for Disney. I doubt that they will ever acknowledge it to the extent of taking things back to the pre-pandemic times when park visitors were valued and you were in the Disney “bubble” when you booked an on site resort. I believe they are blinded by the high (although now declining) attendance numbers. The reality is they have turned off long time loyal customers and new customers will be turned off and baffled by how complicated and expensive a Disney vacation has become. It may take three or even five years, but I believes long term customers will go elsewhere and when word sufficiently spreads from new customers, park attendance will drop to the point where Disney World survival is in question. We’ve loved Disney for many years, but they have successfully managed to drive us elsewhere for family vacations. And I’m sad to say we no longer really care which direction they go in – they won’t be followed by us any longer.
Somewhere along the line years ago, I seem to remember Disney saying that they’d know if they were making mistakes if their changes caused park attendance to fall. They now have tangible evidence of that. They’ve obviously tried to change course somewhat but in my opinion what they’ve done so far is akin to putting a Band-Aid over a traumatic amputation. We’ll see how much more they try to do in the future, but like a certain beer company and a certain retailer, they’ve backed themselves into a corner of their own making and no matter what they do, at least in the foreseeable future, they’ll be taking incoming from both sides.
As the mother of a family that can no longer visit Disney World due to current laws in Florida affecting the LGBTQ+ community and putting my child at risk this not just a discussion about content. We need companies like Disney to push back and take a stand for equality and human rights.
Patricia, merely visiting will put your child at risk? Care to share how? As well, care to state which law does this?
As a member of the LGBTQ community myself and a Central Florida resident… this is absolutely ridiculous. Your child is not “at risk” in Florida and it’s reductive and asinine to pretend that’s so, especially on a vacation to Disney World.
You nailed it! Unfortunately people tend to think that what their emotions dictate are fact. What is needed in this case, as in many, is rational analysis based on critical thinking. Emotions have their place but not in problem solving.
“This might come as a surprise to those on the front lines of the culture wars, but most people aren’t actively engaged with this stuff. It’s only brought to their attention when making the nightly news or perpetual headlines”
This, in my opinion, perfectly describes why Disney is in the current predicament they are in. Coming out and publicly opposing a political bill was an enormous error on their part. They could have taken the same stance in private meetings with DeSantis and they would not be in the shape they now find themselves in. Hell, it may have even been more effective in getting their point across. By doing it publicly (for some reason) not only did they put themselves in DeSantis’ crosshairs, they also made it more obvious to the average person would not normally have paid attention.
absolutely not. why do it silently? desantis isnt engaging a culture war, hes attacking real people, putting them in harms way. many of whom work at disney world. standing w/ the LGBTQ+ community isnt wrong. it’s not disney’s fault that republicans dont give a shit about first amendment suddenly. If people stay silent, then it just keeps getting worse. it’s easy to say “oh disney should stay quiet” but its always easier… but staying silent is how it gets worse…
Well, your post is most just emotional overreaction that I am not going to debate with. But to answer your question, why they shouldn’t do it publicly. You are seeing why. They make themself a political target and alienate a large portion of their fanbase that (probably) wouldn’t have even known if they didn’t see it in the headlines.
Sure. Tell yourself that. I guess caring about the fact that caring about basic decency and not wanting all your gay and gay supporting employees is just emotional ovetreaction. Rught. Gotcha.
If you look back to when most of this started, there was ample reporting that Chapek did talk to and call DeSantis behind the scenes to discuss this law, and relay the concerns he was hearing from cast members.
Even the criticism on speaking out publicly was primarily over comments Chapek made to the board; that yes we all know would become public, but only after talks appeared to go nowhere. His original comments would probably have been ignored by most politicians, as they were pretty vapid.
As someone is with Disney on this, I can also admit this is a complete mess and at this point is unlikely to be settled until after the election at the earliest.
I find myself, as an American who was alive for the 21st century rehashing and strengthening of the notion of corporate personhood, having a difficult time with the argument that Disney is in the state it is in because of politics and more specifically the idea that the company can salvage its reputation by “going back” to some previous point where the company was either apolitical or quietly political. Disney is, and has always been, a very political company, and I do not just mean this in the way that any major American corporation is. The studios produced propaganda films for the US government during World War II. Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros were an outgrowth of a State Department commissioned Disney goodwill tour of Latin America and South America to offset Nazi Germany’s influence in the region. Walt’s politics were high profile from the end of the war to his death and those political ideals are evident in the way he approached his work, especially anything that related to America, whether at world’s fairs, in the parks, or in animation. I am in full agreement with Tom that the Axios polling will be used by many to support the beliefs they already hold about Disney’s most recent foray into political issues, and perhaps none of those people have an understanding of the company’s political history. I really have no conclusion save for a shrug and a desire to have someone make it make sense for me, but I am not sure if that is possible.
I have really mixed emotions about all this. Part of me wants to believe that Disney can and will focus on guest-friendly decisions and that everything will smooth out over time. This is what they are trying to do with Operation Chapek Cleanup. They are trying hard to bring more value back to the parks and invest in new experiences. They are trying hard to produce content that’s compelling and innovative, while sprinkling in some quick wins based on familiarity and emerging audiences. Prices will go up due to the market and public demand (that’s inevitable), and technology will play a role in delivering Disney content (good luck prying technology out of the publics’ cold, dead hands), but I have zero concerns over Disney’s focus on the long game right now.
BUT…and stay with me here…I don’t know if that’s enough anymore. We saw a shift in audience tastes back in the 90s. Original EPCOT was compelling, inspirational, educational, and knocked guests’ socks off for a decade plus. Over time, the appeal diminished. The easy explanation is that Disney didn’t keep up with changing technology and didn’t innovate. Hardcore fans like me lamented the company’s inability to keep “plussing” the experience and keep up. In retrospect, I don’t think that was the issue. Guests simply weren’t interested in original EPCOT themes and concepts anymore. We changed as a society, and the aspirational aspects of Future World and World Showcase eventually came across as shallow. The Millennium Celebration, with all the focus on bridging cultural divides, slowly lost it’s emotional appeal to an ever-jaded audience. Depressing, but true.
People didn’t want edutainment anymore in the 90s and that demand hasn’t come back. People had enough of the global community concept in the mid-00s, and that also hasn’t come back. And I think we are in another shift now. Everything is put through a political lens and we are deep in culture wars. This is the new landscape for Disney. I don’t think it’s going away.
So coming back full-circle, hopefully Disney knows this. Hopefully they focus on producing compelling content, culture wars be damned. They should just quietly do what they think is right and let the content and experiences speak for themselves. Keep improving the technology. Keep adding value. Hold onto the magic wherever possible. Tap into youthful aspirations and escapism. There’s nothing they can do to put the culture war toothpaste back in the tube, so might as well just tell interesting stories and let everyone keep shouting into the wind.
Two thumbs up for Big bobbie and Karyl. You hit the nail on the head. In my opinion, Disney taking public stands on divisive political issues is the main cause of their nosedive on the Harris Axios poll. In 2019 they held the number 5 spot for companies with best reputation. Now they’re near the bottom. And they have no one to blame but themselves,
People just love to pretend that Disney had never expressed an opinion on human rights before. And yet, they have, consistently so since at least the 80s as far as I can recall, and across multiple platforms. Anybody who didn’t know that Disney presents as left-leaning was simply not paying attention. But all of a sudden, with De Santis bullying his way into the national consciousness, it’s a huge deal. Standing up for fellow human beings is never wrong. Disney has done nothing wrong here. And I say this as someone who has an ongoing love/hate relationship with them.
Christina, we probably all believe in respecting others and that includes those who identify as LGBTQ . But the stand Disney took on the parental rights law is a separate issue. The latest WSJ poll indicates that 77% of American adults (across all political affiliations) agree that issues on gender identification should NOT be taught in kindergarten through third grade. So Disney publicly stated they wanted to work to repeal a law that most Americans (at least) perceive as a law that they agree with. Not a smart business move for a company whose target consumers are the parents of young children. If they would have just kept their mouth shut they would not have half the PR problems they are facing now. I also agree that they need to focus on the consumer and at least give the impression that they are not trying to rob you blind when you visit their parks. Our family just returned yesterday from a five day vacation at WDW. We’ve vacationed there at least once a year year for the last 20 years. We’ve seen a lot of changes for the worse over the last two decades. They can right the ship, if they are smart enough to learn from their mistakes.
I am ready to stop hearing about Mr Chapik and ready to hear about how they are fixing it.
It was fun for me and my wife bumping into you and your wife at DL this week.
In this post I think that you have hit almost every nail into the right hole.
We do not pay any attention to polls as they never seem to ask the questions that I want to answer. We do, however, pay a lot of attention to the other folks and their reactions/comments at the resorts and parks.
Our biggest problem is the lightning lanes and their impact on those folks (especially with little kids) that art not up in time or do not know how to get their spots. While in the line at Midway Madness we watched 80 to 100 folks pass the merge point from the lightning lane and then 5 folks (1 group) allowed from standby before going back to the lightning lane. I do not purchase lightning lanes nor passes because I already spend enough to get to Disney and I, as an older person, feel like I am cheating the families that are trying to get their kids a decent experience. I heard a number of the folks leaving our Midway Madness standby line (with and without little kids) saying that it was their first and last trip to Disney. I recommend that anyone with smaller to medium aged kids spend the extra dollars, time and effort to purchase the lightning lanes so they do not kill their future Disney.
Our second problem, that we found on this trip is that the menus for ALL of the Disney Restaurants have been dumbed down to a limited number of items. My wife and I are both diabetic (our unique problem) and have, over time, found the restaurants that have food that we like AND can eat and make our reservations accordingly. With the abbreviated menus (probably resulting from staffing problems) we cancelled our dining reservations for 3 of our 6 days at Disney and utilized the opportunity to get extra exercise and walk over to the Anaheim Garden Walk and get (also) good food without the Disney hassle and abbreviated menus,
Our third peeve is with the garbage bins in the parks (especially California Adventure). They are visibly doing a great job of emptying the plastic bags from the bins but are not cleaning (offline) the bins themselves of the items that make it into the bins but not into the bags. Some of the bins really stink and I am sure are attracting bugs and critters.
Curious as to what’s wrong with Cotino? We had a vacation house in La Quinta near there for years. The Cotino location is in a wind tunnel but don’t you think Californians especially older ones will flock to a Disney concept in the desert? It looks like a less expensive Golden Oak with a couple hour drive to Disneyland.
I question the methodology of this survey. Many of the companies that are just a hair behind Disney are universally despised. Axios would never allow the people who fund them (corporations) to look all that bad. I have to say I dismiss this survey out of hand and Iger should too.
“This might come as a surprise to those on the front lines of the culture wars, but most people aren’t actively engaged with this stuff. It’s only brought to their attention when making the nightly news or perpetual headlines. By and large, average Americans do not want or need validation of their beliefs by big businesses.”
This. This right here is where Disney messed up. The majority of people DONT WANT TO LIVE THEIR EVERYDAY LIVES VIA POLITICS! Disney brought this upon themselves by yelling about a proposed and then a passed piece of legislation that was controversial by the political class. Most Americans want to be left alone and just go about their life and not have government OR big business ramming stuff down their throats. There was ZERO need for Disney to open their mouths about it. If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything.
I agree. Disney’s brand is that it is an oasis from the challenges of everyday life. As soon as it enters the political sphere, Disney forfeits that brand. As Tom writes, focus on selling a quality product. Full stop. Then trust that your customers are grown-ups who can figure out politics on their own.
Exactly! Support whomever or whatever you wish, just, as the old poker saying goes. “Shut up and deal!”
For anyone who is LGBTQ, and anyone who loves someone who is, these issues ARE our daily lives. For us, Disney is indeed an oasis from bigotry and fear. It’s public stance has preserved this for us.
Diversity give me joy. Disney’s continuing embrace of diversity gives me joy, too.
Interesting and I appreciate your commentary. It’s not surprising because I hear negative statements about Disney regularly in real life, for a lot of reasons mentioned here. I do think it’s salvageable but only if they work on it quickly. I think they underestimate how “kids growing up on Disney” affects their bottom line so much ten years down the road. Botching the last few Pixar movies, Star Wars and the recent phase of Marvel probably is playing into this too in a huge way. Disney used to be a sure bet at the movies, Andy on family night at home, and now many of the movies are just not good. To the point where we haven’t seen any Disney movie except Guardians in the theater in over a year. My teens just don’t want to go anymore. And are talking about canceling our streaming. Let’s be honest… the average family never even goes to WDW or DL… ever… I never went to the parks growing up. But we certainly watched the Disney Channel and went to all the movies. I think constantly being in the news is the only thing actually doing them in more than any actions other than the movie misfires. That’s how the general public experiences Disney… a name on the news and a choice for family entertainment. Any mishaps at the parks (genie, staffing, magical express) are still only affecting a small portion of Americans. And it seems easier to right parks issues more quickly vs systemic brand issues like Star Wars and these kids movie flops. But, Disney did pull itself out of the late 90s-early 00s slump with its partnership with John Lassiter. I would say they need another magical storyteller like him to right the ship and bring magic that all families love to the screen again before we see the reputation turn around in any functional way. Just my thoughts. If they don’t do that soon they will have lost this younger generation and then they won’t be the ones bringing their kids to the parks in the future as adults and filling seats in the theater because frankly, they won’t care. Give people amazing stories to care about and they will.
This is spot on, Larissa. I, too, quite regularly hear negative comments about Disney. I think a lot of people are disappointed with the quality of the movies and also disgusted with their overt attempts to influence the next generation with left wing ideologies. A company that used to be trusted to provide wholesome, safe content for kids is no longer viewed in that light by many parents. I do live in a red state, so my perceptions of public opinions aren’t the same as the “other half” of the country. But around here, Disney has deeply wounded their formally “clean cut” reputation. And I agree that the vast majority of respondents to the Axios Harris poll are NOT basing their opinions of Disney on a visit to theme parks, but rather on movies, streaming content, and news coverage. Like Katie said, why in the world did Disney dive head first into such polarizing issues? Foolish people (and corporations) that dive head first into treacherous waters sometimes get their necks broken.
I do not disagree, as I have heard about various Disney issues from friends and family myself, and their understanding of them is oftentimes pretty dismal. However, I am particularly tired of hearing that the existence of the LGBTQIA+ community is a polarizing issue. It shouldn’t be, regardless of political lines – Disney teaches us as children to accept and embrace differences. Their recent movies – while bad, as Tom says, haven’t changed that message. However, politics has trained us over the last few years to seek out a villain, which has twisted public perception to the point that a family company can be demonized for representing a modern family. That’s not the whole issue in this poll, but it is a contributing factor.
The “existence” of the LGBTQIA+ is not polarizing. What, in my opinion, turns people off is the way that some activists present it. I gave a gay sister and and “adopted” guy son. Both do not deny whom they are. Both are married. I, in fact, stood as vest man for one, and my wife and I just spent ten days at at the GF Disney in February with one couple. Had a great time as usual. The difference is that these people are professionals, one a VP the other a company Director, to whom being gay is a fact of their being, not an all consuming crusade.
I love this take. It’s about Disney’s overall ecosystem, not just the parks. The parks bring to life stories that people consume throughout their lives. If the stories suffer, their experience within the parks will as well.
Disney hasn’t done a thing to “cram” any agenda down our throats. They just keep telling stories, and those stories have always had elements of overcoming obstacles, being the underdog, finding your voice, following your dreams, being true to yourself, celebrate differences, adults aren’t always right (or even there), etc.
It is only recently that those same themes we’ve loved for decades are now somehow a left-wing agenda. I’m sorry that the protagonists aren’t always white and straight, but the Little Mermaid isn’t some sort of black agenda just like Ratatouille isn’t about Make America Rat-infested Again. The Little Mermaid is about following your dream to marry the first man you meet…with, you know, the help of a talking crab. Actually, it’s kind of anti-merpeople now that I think about it. So it *is* racist.
Let’s call it what it is. People flip out because Ariel is black in the latest adaptation. The story hasn’t changed. So why was the story universally accepted then, and not now? That’s on a culture war-obsessed audience, not Disney.
Encanto was great. So was Luca, Soul, Raya, and Seeing Red. Onward, Lightyear, Strange World…not so much. But that’s all based on my individual tastes. Some liked these stories. Others didn’t. Those who didn’t made dang well sure everyone else heard their opinion…because….you know….the internet. I take real issue with people claiming Disney has an agenda. They’re just seeing what they want to see and stirring the pot for the sake of it.
I disagree. People are upset because the narrative’s protagonists were changed, not because of race. Just about nobody likes remakes of anything, movies included. Star Wars is another example. The sequels never lived up to the original trilogy. People get used to characters and the way they are depicted. If Ariel had originally been black there would be no discussion. If some choose to see things through the prisim of race and group definitions that’s up to them. I have always evaluated people as individuals and I will continue to do that. Kindly leave me out of your generalizations.
One thing I like to keep in mind is that, as Tom points out, this is fixable. I think we are seeing that already with some changes at the parks (bringing back free parking, tweaking genie+, getting rid of park pass reservations), and efforts to continue making high quality animated films along the lines of Moana and Encanto—Wish looks really promising. Disney has had bad patches before, such as after Walt’s passing and the 80s before the renaissance. They always come back, and I don’t think this time will be any different.
There are going to be a lot of very upset people when DeSantis becomes POTUS in 24, and Canada is once again going to see quite the threatened influx of expats. Of course almost nobody ever follows through . . . . And the “Don’t Say Gay” mantra being conveniently resurrected here has been shown to be a deliberate and obvious misappelation of what was actually in the bill. DeSantis won Florida in an almost unprecedented landslide. Florida is a very diverse state. One can attribute his win to anything one wishes and call those who voted for him.any pejorative they wish, but if DeSantis is nominated, unless something unexpected happens, he’s pretty much got the job!