Page 168 - The Disneyization of Society

IMPLICATIONS OF DISNEYIZATION

Taylor as the founders of the assembly-line and scientific management respectively.
It belongs to an era of mass consumption that is by no means disappearing but
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whose emphases are becoming less central with the passage of time to what we
take to be late modern society. Disneyization is a mode of delivery in the sense of
the staging of goods and services for consumption. It provides a framework for
increasing the allure of goods and services. Disneyization seeks to increase the
appeal of goods and services that might otherwise appear mundane and uninter-
esting. For example, theming in restaurants increases the attractiveness of food
that is often unexceptional; placing the restaurants in environments in which
other consumption opportunities are on offer (such as going to the cinema)
enhances the likelihood that consumers will visit them; situating the restaurants
in relation to other consumption avenues means that they form part of a desti-
nation that is more likely to be visited; placing their logos onto t-shirts and other
merchandise makes otherwise ordinary goods interesting; and encouraging the
display of emotions on the part of serving staff helps to differentiate restaurants,
increase the likelihood that diners will return, and improve the chances that they
will purchase merchandise.
Indeed, it may be that one of the reasons for the growing use of theming in the
form of external narratives in some McDonald’s restaurants is associated at least
in part with the limitations of McDonaldization itself. McDonaldization’s empha-
sis on standardization sits uneasily in an increasingly post-Fordist era of choice
and variety. Theming becomes a means of reducing the sense of sameness and
thereby enhancing the appeal of its products.
Disneyization is therefore integrally associated with consumption and in
particular with what might be thought of consumerism and consumer culture –
the pressure on consumers to buy more than they need and often want and con-
sumers’ frequent willing compliance, a compliance associated with the conviction
among many consumers that goods bestow meaning and are a source of identity.
Consumerism and consumer culture have been with us for a long time, but there
is a clear feeling among many commentators that in recent times there has been
a sea change. With this transformation, the emphasis on inducing consumers to
purchase considerably beyond their needs and consumers’ reasonably willing
participation in the new order has attained new levels. Disneyization is a set of
mechanisms for encouraging consumers to spend more than they would have
done otherwise. That is not to say that the blandishments that make up Disneyization
are always successful, since consumers are well aware that they are under attack
to part company with their money and are familiar with the signs for doing so.
Writers like Twitchell argue that consumers well know what is happening in
shops, malls, restaurants, and so on to make them consume, and are active seekers
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of meaning rather than passive dupes. For example, he suggests that consumers
‘are not duped by advertising, packaging, branding, fashion, or merchandising.
They actively seek and enjoy what surrounds the object, especially when they are