For “Simpsons” fans, it’s one of those moments that always brings a smile.
Some character shows up unexpectedly at C. Montgomery Burns’ front door. The bitter old billionaire listens politely for a moment or two. Then Burns turns to his flunkie, Waylon Smithers and says: “Release the hounds.” And then this pack of vicious attack dogs suddenly appears and chases the uninvited visitor off of Burns’ front steps.
And the Walt Disney Company … It used to do that. A lot. When Disney officials saw something that they didn’t like (EX: Someone using the corporation’s copywritten property without permission), they’d then “release the hounds.” As is: Sic the Mouse’s infamously aggressively legal department on the offenders.
Of course, this tactic would sometimes backfire. Take — for example — that time back in the Summer of 1989 when Disney’s lawyers sued a trio of daycare centers in Hallandale, FL. You see, the owner of these daycare centers had had some murals painted which featured Disney characters. And Mickey’s attorneys argued that this was trademark infringement. Which is why they wanted the company’s characters removed from the walls of these daycare centers ASAP.
Of course, what the Mouse’s lawyers hadn’t anticipated was that this lawsuit would eventually result in an awful lot of bad publicity for the Walt Disney Company. With many newspapers & television stations around the country running stories about how the all-powerful Disney corporation was picking on these three tiny daycare centers.
And what really didn’t help this situation is that Universal Studios (Sensing a great opportunity to promote its soon-to-be-opened Orlando operation) immediately swooped in and offered to send its own artists to this trio of Disney-sued daycare centers. Where they then painted new murals featuring characters that would soon be entertaining guests who’d visit Universal Studios Florida.
The upside is … Disney executives actually learned a lot from this daycare debacle. They learned that sometimes — when it comes to protecting the company’s copywritten material — the best thing to do is little or nothing at all.
Photo courtesy of Google Images
Take — for example — how the company has been handling that Mickey Mouse clone that’s been appearing on Al-Aqsa TV, that television station that’s run by Hamas. During his appearance on the “Tomorrow’s Pioneers” program, this character (which is obviously a rip-off of Disney’s corporate symbol) has been urging Palestinian children to help ” … liberate Jerusalem, God willing, liberate Iraq, God willing, and liberate all the countries of the Muslims invaded by the murderers.”
Obviously, this is not the sort of message that the Walt Disney Company wants Mickey Mouse associated with. But rather than “releasing the hounds” on Hamas, Mouse House officials opted to take a more thoughtful, measured approach to this problem.
As Disney CEO Bob Iger explained yesterday during his appearance yesterday at the Disneyland Hotel, where he spoke at the Society of Business Editors and Writers‘ annual conference:
“We were appalled by the use of our character to disseminate that kind of message. I think anytime any group seeks to exploit children in that manner, it’s despicable. (But) We didn’t mobilize our forces and seek to either have the clip taken down or to make any broad public statement about it. I just didn’t think it would have any effect.
I think it should have been obvious how the company felt about the subject. We simply made the decision that we would not either create or prolong a public discourse on the subject by making a loud public statement.”
Instead of siccing its own legal department on Hamas, what Disney did was let the court of public opinion do all of the heavy lifting for it. And given that there was almost universal condemnation of Farfour (I.E. The name that this Mickey clone went by) and Al-Aqsa’s attempt to use this character to indoctrinate Palestinian children, “Tomorrow’s Pioneers” was recently pulled off the air “for review” by the Palestinian Information Office. Which has since admitted that Al-Aqsa’s use of this Disney rip-off in its effort to educate Palestinian youth about the on-going struggle with Israel may have been a “mistaken approach.”
Mind you, ‘way behind the scenes, far away from the public eye, Disney representatives did quietly meet with Palestinian officials to express their concerns about Farfour and “Tomorrow’s Pioneers.” But in the end, Disney exerted no real pressure (legal or otherwise) on the Palestinian government. It just let the public do that for them.
The Mouse took a similar approach to Shijingshan Amusement Park. You know, that Chinese theme park that’s been all over the news lately ? Mostly because it seems to be filled with employees who were wearing costumes that were obvious knock-offs of well-known Disney characters like Donald Duck and Minnie Mouse.
Photo courtesy of Google Images
So even though Disney had Shijingshan absolutely dead to rights (I mean, this park even had a banner over its entrance that read: “Hong Kong Disneyland is too far away. Come to Shijingshan instead”), Mickey didn’t “release the hounds” here either. Rather, itjust let the international press shame Shijingshan’s owners into making the necessary changes at that theme park. And sure enough, late last week, video began circulating that showed workmen taking sleg-hammers to paper mache statues of classic Disney characters like Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.
Of course, in this particular situation, the Walt Disney Company had a number of reasons that it needed to tread lightly. For starters, it didn’t want to embarrass senior Chinese officials. Given that the government of Shijingshan District had actually provided the funding for construction of this new theme park in Beijing’s western suburbs.
And then there’s the fact that Vice-Premier Wu Yi arrived in Washington yesterday to take part in a two day summit that — among other issues — is supposed to address China’s on-going problems with intellectual property. As one unnamed Disney official explained it to me this past weekend:
“We didn’t want to do anything that then might give the Chinese an excuse to call off that meeting. Sure, we probably lost a couple of hundred thousand dollars in collectable fees during that period when Shijingshan was using our trademarked characters to entertain guests at their theme park. But that’s nothing compared to the billions that the Walt Disney Company loses annually because the Chinese government refuses to police the people who make & sell illegal copies of our movies, TV shows, CDs, DVDs and computer games.
That’s the issue that we really need resolved, that we want Wu and his government to get behind. Not shutting down stupid little theme parks like Shijingshan. We need these guys to focus on the real problem. Which is China’s horrible record when it comes to intellectual property.”
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Will Disney’s now cautious & more thoughtful approach to sensitive issues like Hamas’ Mickey Mouse clone and Shijingshan Amusement Park (Which — it should be noted here — is supposedly trickling down directly from Bob Iger’s office) ultimately result in the company having better PR ? To be honest, the Mouse remains a very tempting target. Witness the Daily Show’s recent decision to do a segment lampooning Disneyland’s on-going battle with Anaheim officials.
Though, in that particular case, the Disneyland Resort did actually bring all of this bad press on itself because it has in fact “released the hounds.” In that Disneyland did sue Anaheim back in February because that city wants to build 225 units of subsized housing right next door to where the Imagineers want to eventually build the Disneyland Resort’s third theme park. Which is why there have been all of these negative articles about how Mickey has been throwing his weight around lately, doing whatever he has to in order to get Orange County officials to comply with the Walt Disney Company’s wishes.
Me personally, I can’t help but notice how bizarre it is that the Disney corporation now puts all of this care & thought into its international dealings … Yet when it comes to the Disneyland Resort, the officials there tend to treat Anaheim’s elected officials as if they were hourly employees at DCA. To be ordered about as Mickey sees fit.
Of course, the difference in attitude here may have a lot to do with the fact that the Middle East and Asia are places where Disney officials believe that their company’s future now lies. That these are the last great untapped markets where hundreds of millions of new Disney fans can potentially be found. So great care must be taken so that Mickey doesn’t blow these last golden opportunities.
Whereas when it comes to Orange County, California … There’s a feeling among some Disneyland officials that this particular market is verging on tapped out. Which is why it would probably be best for the company to concentrate its efforts on international expansion, rather than wasting its time & effort on trying to find new ways to make the people who live right next door to the Anaheim parks happy.
But what do you folks think ? Do you like that the Walt Disney Company is now taking a cautious, more thoughtful approach when it comes to all of its international dealings ? Even though this same sort of approach doesn’t seem to apply to Anaheim ? Or is it now perhaps time to “release the hounds” on some of the Disneyland Resort’s more-boneheaded officials ?
Your thoughts ?