Page 96 - The Disneyization of Society

MERCHANDISING

Interestingly and indeed surprisingly, Disney was caught out with insufficient
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merchandise again for the first Toy Story. There were well-publicized shortages of
Buzz Lightyears in particular. Nowadays, there tends to be a wide range of mer- 87
chandise on offer. Pecora and Meehan sought out merchandise relating to The
Hunchback of Notre Dame in Tucson Mall, Arizona. Even though the observations
were being done after the merchandising for the film had reached its peak, 320
items were uncovered. They report:

Our observations confirmed that Hunchback merchandise was everywhere. Up-market department
stores, mid-market department stores, and many specialty stores offered Hunchback products as well
other Disney merchandise. The same Esmeralda dress could be bought in both the anchors and at
the Disney Store; the same Hunchback T-shirt was offered in the anchors as well as in gift shops.
Small stores specializing in greetings cards, paper goods, candy, books, recorded music, pre-
recorded videos, toys, etc. offered numerous Hunchback items as well as other Disney items. The
Disney Store expanded on these offerings, stocking Hunchback merchandise that was only available
through Disney’s own retail operations. Given Disney’s promotional agreement with McDonald’s,
the McDonald’s in the mall had been decorated with Hunchback streamers and promotional dis-
plays. It offered special Hunchback meals with Hunchback place mats, napkins, paper cups, etc. 25

The promotional tie-in has become one of the major merchandising vehicles for
Disney’s animated films. For the first Toy Story, $125 million was spent on such
tie-ins by firms such as Burger King, Nestlé, Frito-Lay, Minute Maid, and Payless
ShoeSource. Burger King alone spent $45 million in order to be able to boost sales
of its food by giving away Toy Story figures and also selling Toy Story puppets for
$1.99. Goodwin reports: ‘Some Burger King stores have reported such a huge
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demand for the toys that they ran out of a 5½-week supply in just 10 days’. Seven
years later with its latest computer animated film (like Toy Story produced with
Pixar), an even wider spread of deals was negotiated. The tie-ins are important for
Disney in drawing attention to the film in as many quarters as possible. Indeed, tie-
ins and other merchandise-related activities are brought out months before a film’s
release in order to acquaint children with the characters and the film’s major
themes. According to the vice-president of marketing at Buena Vista UK, Disney’s
distribution arm: ‘These movies are very expensive to make and release and these
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tie-ins get us exposure we could not afford to buy’. For the other side of the tie-in,
the implications can be considerable in terms of profitability, as was noted in rela-
tion to McDonald’s and hybrid consumption in Chapter 3. In the case of Monsters
Inc. and one of Disney’s product partners, Fairy Liquid, a washing up liquid, the
appearance of characters on the bottles resulted in its having a record month.
Disney then, has turned merchandising into a major income stream. Even its
town of Celebration, which was referred to in Chapter 2, has its own merchandise
shop (Figure 4.1). It is a good example of Disneyization because the company
excels in the range of merchandise it generates and the degree to which it makes
such a significant contributor to revenue. The company assiduously protects
its proprietary images against misuse and is often involved in litigation over
copyright protection. 28 However, few can match the company in the way in