Cleric Says Disney A Corrupting Influence

[The Interpreter]

http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2008...23341228068672/

[WooferBearATL]

http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2008...23341228068672/

I think that the Cleric just misses the Alter Boys. <G>

[The Interpreter]

Well, he has a book to promote, and what better way than to attack something super-popular? The press will then line up to print his comments and mention his book as an aside...just as they did.

[CoastersRZ]

I wouldn`t really call the tactics that Disney uses "spirituality." The Walt Disney Co. is a really good marketer of their products and creating strong demand among children around the country and the world to visit their theme parks. Do I believe that Disney is using spirituality in a negative way? No, because I do not believe that Disney is using spirituality to bring people to their parks.

Yes, Disney markets their parks to children. Yes, they promote their parks as a place where child hood dreams can come to life, right before the child`s eyes. At the root of what Disney does though, is it creates and sells memories. While some people may only make one pilgrimage to Disney World as a child, which may give the park a form of awe and spirituality to the child, I wouldn`t say that Disney is exploiting this. They are simply marketing the memories and quality family time that visitors can have at their parks. And the synergies that Disney has between ABC, the Disney movies and the parks help to promote and market all the Disney brands.

Not everything that Disney does is good. But they are a well run and operated company, especially in the category of running world class resorts and theme parks. There are scores of books that critically look at Disney, from the "Distory" (the Disney edited version of history presented in such attractions as "The American Adventure at EPCOT), to the way that Disney has pursued developments and pitted local communities against one another in order to secure the most lucrative deal so that the company did not have to pay for large infrastructure improvements that the theme parks required. You can read more in the many critical books about Disney and its theme parks (a quick amazon or google search will turn up many).

Having done quite a bit of research on the history and development of Disney`s theme parks for my thesis topic on entertainment architecture, I have read several of the critical books about Disney.

In summation, I do not think that Disney`s marketing strategy implements a spirituality or higher meaning for the Disney brand in the eyes of the children. What Disney does do well is successfully market their products to children, and makes a tidy profit off of it. I would not say that Disney is corrupting the minds of children though. I think that this cleric has better things that he could be arguing for than how Disney is corrupting children. How many people today still do not have basic literacy skills, or lack proper education and schooling? Not to mention children that lack proper shelter, food and medical care around the world. Sure seems like he is picking a trivial cause to stand against compared to those more serious issues facing the human race today.

Further more, as mentioned above, he is out to sell and promote his book. And the topic that he has chosen will surely guarantee that papers and people talk about his work because of the sensationalism of the link he created between Disney and the corruption of children. In the end, he hopes to be able to make some money off of his book, and likely does not want to stop the corruption of children by Disney.

[The Interpreter]

Which is to say our dear cleric is cynically exploiting DISNEY to make money from his book. Pot. Kettle. Black.