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“Corporate citizenship”?! “Social responsibility”?! Does Iger’s ascent actually signal the start of a bold new era at the Walt Disney Company? … Er … No

Jim Hill

“Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.”
The Who, “Won’t Be Fooled Again.”

Admit it. You’re kind of concerned about Bob Iger, aren’t you? You’re worried that the Walt Disney Company’s new CEO will be just like the corporation’s last chief executive. That Bob will just wind up being Michael Eisner lite.

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Well, to be honest, I was worried about this too. Until yesterday afternoon, that is. When — as I was digging around at DailyChanges.com (You know? That website that keeps track of the various domain names that major corporations like the Walt Disney Company register?) — and I came across new Disney sites with names that featured phrases like “social responsibility” and “corporate citizenship.”

“What the hey?,” I thought.”Is this a sign that the Walt Disney Company is actually in the process of acquiring some sort of social conscience?”

I mean, check out these new Disney-owned domain names (Which were all registered back on August 22nd):

When you see domain names like that, you can’t help but think: “Hey, maybe the Walt Disney Company is actually about to turn a corner? Maybe Bob Iger’s really going to take the lead here and turn the Mouse House into a much more socially responsible corporation? With no more toys & t-shirts being made in China. And no more full-time jobs at the theme parks being changed into two part-time jobs, just so Disney then doesn’t have to pay any benefits and/or health insurance.”

Ah, it’s a beautiful dream, don’t you think?

Well, the reality is … The Walt Disney Company has no intentions of changing its current business practices. According to company insiders that I’ve spoken with over the last couple of days, Bob Iger has no bold new corporate initiatives that he wishes to quickly put into place once he officially becomes Disney’s “Big Cheese” on October 1st of this year.

“So what’s the deal with Disney registering domain names that feature terms like ‘corporate citizenship’ and ‘social responsibility’?,” you ask. The answer’s simple, really. The Walt Disney Company has registered these domain names for preemptive reasons. Meaning that — because the Mouse owns these domain names — the corporation’s critics are now prevented from setting up websites with these same names that criticize and/or attack the Walt Disney Company for its business practices.

As one friend who works deep inside the Disney organization explained it to me yesterday:

“It’s just like those first two stories that you did about Disney & its domain names. Sometimes the company just buys up names so that it prevents someone else from registering and then using those domain name. Stuff that might embarass the corporation in small ways — like barfbagsatwdw.com — or in really huge ways — like disneysweatshop.org.

I mean, it’s a shame that the Walt Disney Company can’t just be a good corporate citizen, that the company can’t just be socially responsible. But instead it has to worry about someone else saying that ‘Disney’s not being socially responsible’ and/or ‘The Walt Disney Company isn’t a good corporate citizens.

But what are you going to do? I guess it’s just the price of doing business today.”

That’s a kind of depressing note to end an article on, don’t you think? That the Walt Disney Company isn’t really interested in behaving socially responsibly. But — rather — is worried that someone else might say that the corporation is not being socially responsible. Which is why they snatched up all of those potentially embarrassing domain names.

So how’s about this: Why don’t we try and end this column on a more upbeat note? By revealing some info about that expansion area that’s being added to the Walt Disney Studios theme park at the Disneyland Paris Resort?

This new expansion area will be known as:

And that “Cars” themed attraction that will be prominently featured in “Toon Studios” will be called:

While that “Finding Nemo” dark ride that’s being themed around Crush and the other sea turtles that we spied in that 2003 Pixar Animations Studios release will be known as:

I know, I know. That’s not much … Particularly after learning that — when it comes to the Walt Disney Company — maybe the new boss really will be just like the old boss.

Well, here’s hoping that — come October 1st — Bob Iger actually proves that I’m wrong.

Your thoughts?

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