Page 39 - The Disneyization of Society

THE DISNEYIZATION OF SOCIETY

that they are experimenting with such theming is very telling about the directions
that the company is considering.
30 A further sign of theming is the use of ethnic theming. In the UK, for example,
the company often features lines that are themed in terms of Indian or Italian
cooking (both of which are very popular among the British). In Spring 2000,
McDonald’s launched a series of locally themed meals in France. In one month,
the enthusiast could buy a burger with a different French cheese on each day of
the week. The following month, ‘gourmet’ meals were available in the South of
France. ‘Gourmet’ was signified by being able to eat burgers topped with rata-
touille or by ice cream with a blackcurrant sauce topping. 51
Therefore, in several ways, McDonald’s restaurants can be viewed as themed.
The growing use of theming that goes beyond reflexive theming may be due to a
belief that, while the company does provide a certain kind of experience, as
Cantalupo suggests (see above), it increasingly needs to do more in this regard.
Pine and Gilmore have suggested that, with regard to the experience economy,
companies increasingly need to raise consumers’ experiences to new highly mem-
52
orable levels. While it is unlikely that McDonald’s would want to turn itself into
a chain of themed restaurants that become destinations in their own right, espe-
cially in view of the financial difficulties experienced by such chains in recent
years, the slow move in some of its outlets to a more distinctive kind of theming
may prove an interesting long-term development in terms of Disneyization.

Hotels

Hotels are increasingly being themed and it is no coincidence that two of the
better known themed restaurant brands – Hard Rock Cafe and Planet Hollywood –
are being deployed for such a purpose. The opening in 2001 of McDonald’s
Golden Arch hotel in Zurich, where the headboards on the beds are in the shape
of a golden arch, is an interesting illustration of the use of a brand as a mechanism
for theming. 53 However, the really striking developments in themed hotels have
tended to be in hotels attached to theme parks, where the Disney theme park
hotels in particular – especially those at Disney World and Disneyland Paris – have
taken a clear lead, and in the Las Vegas hotel-casinos.
In the Disney theme parks, there are variations in the degree of intensity and
flamboyancy in the theming of their hotels, and these features are more or less
directly related to room rates. Nonetheless, all are themed. Disneyland Paris, for
example, has the following hotels (in brackets are the ‘headlines’ for each hotel
in the 2002–3 Disneyland Paris brochure):

• Disneyland Hotel – ‘a lavish Victorian fantasy’
• New York Hotel – ‘the excitement of New York’