WHAT HEELS: Product Placement Gone Amuck
There are some things you shouldn’t mess with, and Disney’s "It's A Small World" ride – which debuted at the 1964 World's Fair in NYC - is arguably one of them. The Associated Press reports that Disney has “updated” the venerable Disneyland attraction – originally designed to “promote world peace and showcase the cultures of the world”:
Disney is populating one of its most beloved attractions with its own trademark vision of the planet: Aladdin, Nemo, Ariel and more than two dozen cartoon characters plucked from its movies.
And those aren't the only changes visitors will find Thursday when the ride reopens: Disney has woven a few bars from some of its hit soundtracks into the classic "Small World" melody and added a new America section that includes a nod to Los Angeles' famous Hollywood Bowl, a quaint farm scene and "Toy Story" characters. …
"Disney wants to brand the diversity of the entire world and somehow say that it's Disney derived," said Leo Braudy, a cultural historian at the University of Southern California. "It seems a bit crass to put this brand on something that was meant to be a sort of United Nations for children."
The “It’s A Small World” ride is a cultural touchstone for the 256 million people who have taken the ride - every one of whom can no doubt sing the infectious song that went along with the ride (“It’s a world of laughter a world of tears/It’s a world of hope and a world of fears/There’s so much that we share/That it’s time we’re aware/It’s a small world after all”). Disney’s own marketing research finds that “a quarter of all Disneyland guests consider the ride a family tradition,” notes AP.
Our small world is also - sigh! - vulgarly commercial after all.
[Hat Tip: The Heel, an Ivy-educated attorney with a prestigious New York firm, and occasional contributor to this blog.]
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