Disney made its reputation early in Hollywood’s history by producing animated films, cartoons, and the like. Even decades later, they still have plenty of appeal and charm, but the company’s long-term ambitions went far beyond the silver screen. And as the company grew, the Disney brand became famous, trusted, highly-regarded, and brought in streams of revenues and profits.
Although still involved in animation, these days that’s just a small part of its overall business. Today, the company provides a wide range of entertainment that includes theme parks, merchandising, cruise ships, music, and much more.
Disney’s management was always very shrewd and far-sighted. They developed a very loyal customer base and branched into completely new ventures. That they did this so successfully for many years is proof of their acumen.
A Changing World
Disney recognized early on that new trends would affect their business. For example, society’s strict adherence to morality and family standards were gradually easing. Also, the technology used to make movies was steadily improving, which meant it was becoming possible to make movies with more and better special effects and other innovations. And the rapidly growing population meant there would be additional opportunities to profit from films, spin-offs, and related products.
Disney has profited from all of these. It’s not a coincidence that Disney themes have appeared on so many products directly and indirectly related to children for so many decades. The Disney logo is still seen on things like lunch boxes, children’s pajamas, blankets, loose-leafs, and much more.
Nor is it a coincidence that over the years, the company targeted markets for teens, young adults, and older audiences by getting involved in sports, music, news, and other programming that appeal to these groups.
Time For A Change
More recently, Disney decided to move into still other areas – the woke market in particular. Whether this was because they saw growth potential, their own politics were sympathetic to it, or a combination of the two is unclear. In any case, this move could be risky for any company but especially for one whose history was so deeply rooted in traditional family values.
In fact, many of the companies that targeted this market have either lost money, market share, and/or good will. The risks of moving into woke were even greater for a company like Disney. In retrospect, they clearly underestimated the degree of customer backlash this move would generate. Disney has not done better than other companies that went woke, and compared to some has done a lot worse.
Go Woke, Go Broke
Many of the companies that have pursued the woke market lost money, and in some cases have suffered major fiascos. There are no shortage of examples supporting the expression “Go woke, go broke.”
Retail giant Target was one of these. According to an article in The New York Post early in 2023, the company “suffered its first quarterly sales drop in six years, after customers revolted when Target went all-in on woke merchandise for Pride Month — including LGBTQ-themed gear for babies and ‘tuck-friendly’ swimsuits for transwomen and even, it seemed to many, for kids.”
Another was Anheuser-Busch, which on April 1 became entangled in an even worse imbroglio. The problem began after it hired transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in a promotion for Bud Light, the nation’s best-selling beer. This offended various conservative personalities and others, who expressed their disapproval by boycotting Bud Light. The effects showed up quickly, as sales for the April - June quarter declined by 10.5%. And the problem was not just that some consumers were not buying Bud Light; they appeared to be switching to other brands entirely.
Arguably, Disney’s experience was worse. Woke always is a sensitive issue, and the companies that support it risk the wrath of the public.
Disney’s approach clearly offended many people, and the proof is how the public voted with their wallets – causing terribly disappointing results at the box office, at their theme parks and at bottom line.
Would You Watch These Films?
As reported on Zero Hedge, following are a few examples of how some of their woke-related films performed and the messages they sent to viewers:
*A Disney Pixar movie with a nonbinary character using the pronouns “They” and “Them” had one of the lowest box office debuts ever for a Pixar movie. The film reportedly cost around $200 million, but opened with just $29.5 million.
*A Disney cartoon declared that the US was “built on slavery” and advocated that it pay reparations;
*In another Disney show, kids hold up a sign that says “We love you SATAN”;
*Another Disney video pays a trans influencer to model Minnie Mouse clothes.
Considering these and other films and shows were directed at children and young audiences, are you surprised there was a backlash?
So what went wrong? Miscalculating the public’s response to mixing controversial politics into films was one mistake. Another was getting involved in major legal battles with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who remains very popular and powerful in his home state. And even worse was offending Elon Musk, probably the most powerful business guru of our time. Musk also has a humongous following that hangs onto his every word.
Musk recently posted on X (formerly Twitter) that “Disney has a major content problem. Almost their entire upcoming slate is unwatchable. They are the world’s biggest example of ‘Go Woke, Go Broke.’” In other posts, he called for a management change.
A Not So New View
“Many say Disney is indoctrinating children with its ‘woke agenda,’ but few realize that Disney has been doing this for years,” reports the website Inside The Magic. As an indication of how delicate this issue is, in the past others have criticized Disney for promoting a “straight” lifestyle.
As the calendar year winds down, Disney’s stock is trading at approximately $94/share – well off the 12-month low of $79, but still down sharply from the high of $118. According to The Street, for the decade of the 2010s, the stock had increased on average by more than 17% annually.
Some have interpreted comments by CEO Bob Iger as hinting the company will ease its efforts to go woke. Even if so, the company still has to walk a fine line: mending relations with angry consumers while not antagonizing others. Who says entertainment is all fun and games?
Sources: dailymail.co.uk; disney.com; insidethemagic.net; modernity.news; people.com; thesttreet.com; tidalequality.com; titlemax.com; wikipedia.org; zerohedge.com
Gerald Harris is a financial and feature writer. Gerald can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
