Disney Admits In Financial Filing That Their Woke Politics May Have Hurt The Brand
The Walt Disney Company has tacitly admitted that its political ideology has hurt both its business and the reputation of the brand.
About time.
In Disney's annual SEC report, the company acknowledged that its business faces "risks" regarding "misalignment" with consumer preferences. And more specifically, that the public's "perceptions" of Disney's "environmental and social goals" carry risk as well.
“We face risks relating to misalignment with public and consumer tastes and preferences for entertainment, travel and consumer products," the report reads. "The success of our businesses depends on our ability to consistently create compelling content." It continues, “Generally, our revenues and profitability are adversely impacted when our entertainment offerings and products, as well as our methods to make our offerings and products available to consumers, do not achieve sufficient consumer acceptance. Further, consumers’ perceptions of our position on matters of public interest, including our efforts to achieve certain of our environmental and social goals, often differ widely and present risks to our reputation and brands.”
Even those statements understate what's happened to the Disney company and the rapidly growing backlash to their public statements and progressive political ideology.
SAN FRANCISCO - The Walt Disney Company Chairman and CEO Bob Iger speaks onstage during "From 7 Dwarves to 140 Characters" at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on October 9, 2014 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Kimberly White/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)
Disney's Bottom Line Suffering Due To Woke Ideology
In just the past few weeks, Disney's released two massive box office bombs.
READ: ANOTHER DISNEY FILM BOMBS AT THE BOX OFFICE
The Marvels may be one of their biggest financial disasters ever, considering the studio it came from and its production budget and advertising costs. After a disastrous opening weekend that came in tens of millions of dollars below expectations, The Marvels sunk even further in its second weekend. Somehow, box office receipts dropped over 78% from week-to-week, then another 37% over the Thanksgiving weekend.
Given the ~$275 million budget another $275 million in ad costs, it's likely Disney would need to make at least $575 million to break even. It's grossed just $77 million domestically and $110 million internationally.
Disney's starting down a gigantic $350-375 million loss on just one movie.
Even though the film isn't overtly political, the company's proud "environmental and social" political stances have created an aura of malaise over Disney's products. For decades, the film studio had the benefit of the doubt from consumers, that their products and movies would be family friendly and share timeless messages everyone could relate to.
Now, after years of releasing preachy, activist films, audiences are tuning out. That's the "reputation and brand" risk the filing refers to.
The List Of Failures Is Endless
Wish has been a disaster, so have The Marvels, Lightyear, Strange World, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Little Mermaid, Haunted Mansion, She-Hulk, Elemental...it's remarkable.
Not to mention declining interest in the company's theme parks, ESPN and subscriber losses at Disney+. Obviously not every problem that Disney faces is due to its obvious political ideology, but of all gigantic mega corporations, they may have been most impacted by the hard left turn they made after 2016.
They abandoned what made them into the company and brand they are today in order to chase praise from left wing media outlets and progressive Twitter posters. Ignoring that at least 50% of their audience had no interest in their political views, at best, and strongly disagreed with them at worst. For a company that relies on consumers spending their leisure time and money on their products, it was a devastatingly incompetent strategy, that predictably has failed in spectacular fashion.
Whether it's due to the efforts of far left employees or creative talent, Disney has no choice moving forward. They have to return to making objective content, telling consumers they'll remove politics and ideology from their films and television shows. Drop the fight against Ron DeSantis, another Disney embarrassment.
The Walt Disney Company seems to be aware that they've shredded the core values and business model their founder created. Now they have to fix it, or risk further tarnishing and eroding the magical company Walt built in the first place.