Page 90 - The Disneyization of Society

MERCHANDISING

For those who buy merchandise in the sense in which the term is used here, the
items serve as reminders of visiting a place, of having a particular kind of experi-
81
ence, or of their enjoyment of a character or prop. Increasingly, people anticipate
the possibility of being able to buy merchandise and may even be disappointed if
the opportunity to do so is not available. However, merchandising does not rest
on principles that are automatically destined for success, since the images and
logos must be nurtured in order to create the valuable and franchisable com-
modities that are revered. Creating merchandise with the appeal and recogniz-
ability of the Disney logos and characters or the first raft of Star Wars images is a
kind of holy grail which few companies can attain but increasingly has become a
goal that is potentially hugely profitable. As will be seen below, the success of mer-
chandising is not always predictable and there are some well-known and fairly
spectacular failures in this area.
In certain respects, merchandising and hybrid consumption merge into each
other. Hybrid consumption contexts are frequently environments for selling mer-
chandise of the kind discussed in this chapter. This is particularly the case with
theme parks and with themed restaurants, where it is often the selling of licensed
merchandise that is the main facet of the shopping component of the hybrid
forms in which shopping is combined with another form of consumption. For
example, in Chapter 3 Sea World’s strategy for increasing the likelihood that peo-
ple will purchase goods was referred to. Much of what is sold in the outlets that
the parks’ designers and management position so carefully is merchandise bear-
ing Sea World’s image or logo and representations of its creatures, especially
Shamu. However, the shops do not exclusively sell such goods; they also sell
goods that are thematically relevant to a certain attraction. Similarly, but looking
at this issue the other way around, not all merchandise is sold in hybrid con-
sumption contexts. A Jurassic Park t-shirt sold in an independent shop is not part
of the hybrid consumption format that was described in Chapter 3.

Merchandising at the Disney Theme Parks

The Disney theme parks have two points of significance in relation to merchan-
dising as a component of Disneyization. First, and most obviously, they are con-
texts for selling the vast array of Disney merchandise that has accumulated over
the years: from pens to clothing, from books to sweets and from watches to plush
toys. Sales from merchandise are a major contributor to profits from the parks.
The parks are carefully designed to maximize the opportunity for and inclination
of guests to purchase merchandise. Second, they provide their own merchandise.
This occurs in a number of ways, including: t-shirts with the name of the park on
them; Epcot clothing or souvenirs with a suitably attired cartoon character on
them, such as a ‘French’ Mickey purchased in the France pavilion or a sporty