Disney World “Holiday is Magic” Campaign
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and was able to connect with family members in a safe manner. While it may seem exhausting to keep up the healthy practices against COVID-19, it is important that we are all still committed to keep each other safe.
I recently saw an TV advertising campaign launched by Disney World that raised some questions for me. While it is not still safe to travel domestically, Disney World is advertising their in-person experiences just as they normally would. The “Holiday is Magic” campaign has everything we would normally expect to see from a Disney campaign; an ethos appeal to nostalgia, a family appeal, a mystic appeal, and an appeal to our holiday traditions. This year, as expected, they added festive masks to their campaign. However, it makes me question their commitment to corporate social responsibility. How responsible is it for a major brand, like Disney, to call on their consumers to visit them in person. It seems irresponsible to me that this large corporation, who’s parks have been allowed to open, are encouraging visitors to go back to our old normal. I have seen many appropriate ads from other brands that acknowledge our “new normal” and even encourage it. It may be naive to expect Disney not to advertise for visitation but I can’t help but feel uneasy about it.
Corporate social responsibility is very important to me as a consumer and as a prospective digital content specialist. I believe that now more than ever, consumers are calling on their brands to set a good example and adhere to safe practices. With a large budget at their expense, it makes me wonder why hasn’t Disney attempted to shift their Disney World experiences online during a pandemic. It would not be the same as their in person experiences, but not much is the same before COVD-19.
If I were to be on the marketing team at Disney, I would be encouraging a shift into the online experiences, much like Air BnB has done. In the beginning of the pandemic, Air Bnb launched online experiences in which users could host and sell their activities for consumers. Following this trend, Disney should created online Zoom calls with all of their characters. I think that this shift in strategy would be very beneficial to this image and appeal to their consumer base, which is mainly young children and families.
