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The Internet Marketing of Disney Theme Parks: An Analysis of Gender and Race

The Internet Marketing of Disney Theme Parks: An Analysis of Gender and Race The purpose of this study was to analyze the portrayal of gender and race in the images on the official Disney websites used to market five theme parks: the Disneyland Parks in California, Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, and the Magic Kingdom in Florida. This is important because of the growth of e-commerce, Disney’s global influence, and the potential impact on those who view the images. The 452 images that had Disney human characters, human-like characters, animals, cast members, or guests were coded for gender. The main gender hypothesis, that the percentage of male-dominated images would exceed the percentage of female-dominated images, was tested using gender disparity values, which measured the gap between the percentage of male-dominated and female-dominated images. The hypothesis tended to be supported overall, and for most of the resorts (e.g., Florida), lands (e.g., Adventureland), and activities (attractions, entertainment, dining) for human characters, human-like characters, animals, and cast members, but not for guests. Furthermore, the hypotheses that gender disparity values would be highest for images of animals and lowest for images of guests was supported for all five resorts, six of eight lands, and all three activities. Additional analysis also revealed the preponderance of same-sex pairings in parent–child combinations in the images. With regard to race, while the images of some theme parks displayed more racial diversity among their guests than others, in some images, individuals of different races were shown interacting whereas in others they were not. Explanations for these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed. Keywords Disney, gender, race, theme park, Internet marketing “I’m going to Disney World!” Over the past 25 years, a vari- the purpose of this research was to examine and compare how ety of American athletes and celebrities have given this gender and race were portrayed in the still images of the attrac- response when asked, “What’s next?” shortly after their tions, entertainment, and dining establishments on the official championship games or award-winning performances. Of Disney websites devoted to the most recognizable theme parks course, this advertising campaign was designed to encourage within each of Disney’s five resorts, namely, the Disneyland children and families to take the quintessential family vaca- Parks in California, Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, and their tion to one of the Disney resorts. For years, Disney has pro- equivalent in Florida, the Magic Kingdom. moted such visits through television advertisements as well This study makes a number of contributions to the exist- as with travel packets full of colorful brochures mailed ing scholarly literature. First, this research analyzes images directly to prospective vacationers or provided to them by used by The Walt Disney Company, a company with a pow- travel agents. These travel packets included pictures, but as a erful influence on consumer culture that Giroux (1997) result of the expansion and accessibility of the Internet, The described as penetrating “every aspect of social life” (p. 54) Walt Disney Company has increasingly turned to marketing and Schor (2004) described as an “architect of consumer cul- these vacation locations by developing an elaborate web ture” (p. 9). Bryman (1999) perceived the influence of presence. The five Disney resort websites have the potential Disney to be so wide-reaching that he coined the term to reach many more prospective visitors than the travel pack- Disneyization to describe the ways in which Disney princi- ets of the past, and these websites provide hundreds of ples continue to infiltrate an increasing number of aspects of images of the theme parks in California, Florida, Paris, Hong Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA, USA Kong, and Tokyo (The Walt Disney Company, 2010b). While previous studies of the Disney’s portrayal of gender Corresponding Author: and race have predominantly focused on film, and content Carol J. Auster, Department of Sociology, Franklin & Marshall College, Box analyses of the gender and race of characters associated with 3003, Lancaster, PA 17604-3003, USA. children’s products have tended to focus on children’s books, Email: causter@fandm.edu 2 SAGE Open society, and Faherty (2001) used Disneyfication to refer to those on television and movie screens, video game screens, this same phenomenon. This very successful, multinational and computer screens. Yet, such images may not reflect the corporation reported total revenues of 40.9 billion dollars for reality of the distribution of individuals by sex or race (Rudy, 2011 of which 11.8 billion came from its resorts (The Walt Popova, & Linz, 2010). These images may then affect how Disney Company, 2011). Thus, it is important to study individuals think about themselves and also shape their beliefs images about these resorts put forth by a company with such about and attitudes toward those of a variety of categories of a wide-reaching impact (Faherty, 2001) and influence on individuals, including those of other races (Cortese, 2008; consumer culture. Holtzman, 2000; Kern-Foxworth, 1994; Mendoza & Reese, Second, the Internet is a relatively recent form of con- 2001). Regardless of the impact of such images on their view- sumer marketing that is skyrocketing in popularity (Pew ers, both gender (Holtzman, 2000) and racial representations Research Center, 2010). Consequently, it is useful to examine in the images are “reflections of contemporary social relations the extent to which the results of this study of images associ- and power structure” (Cortese, 2008, p. 91). Giroux (1997) ated with e-commerce replicate the findings regarding past further believed that “[Disney] films appear to inspire at least studies of Disney regarding gender (Bell, Haas, & Sells, as much cultural authority and legitimacy for teaching spe- 1995; Davis 2006; Do Rozario, 2004; England, Descartes, & cific roles, values, and ideals as do the more traditional sites Collier-Meek, 2011; Faherty, 2001; Giroux 1997; Wiersma, of learning” (p. 53). As a result of the potential impact of 2000) and race (Faherty, 2001; Giroux, 1997; Hurley, 2005; various forms of media, Rudy et al. (2010) suggested that the Mo & Shen, 2000; Pewewardy, 1996; Pinsky, 2004; Towbin, goals for conducting a content analysis can include examining Haddock, Zimmerman, Lund, & Tanner, 2004) as well as the the extent to which the media accurately presents reality as findings of studies of children’s literature regarding gender well as the impact that producers have on the content of their (Hamilton, Anderson, Broaddus, & Young, 2006; Kortenhaus media. This provides further support for our study of the por- & Demarest, 1993; McCabe, Fairchild, Grauerholz, trayal of gender and race in the images associated with the Pescosolido, & Tope, 2011; Oskamp, Kaufman, & Wolter- marketing of Disney theme parks. beek, 1996; Weitzman, Eifler, Hokada, & Ross, 1972) and race (The Cooperative Children’s Book Center, 2007; Larrick, Portrayal of Gender 1965; Mendoza & Reese, 2001; Pescosolido, Grauerholz, & Milkie, 1997). Researchers have studied the representation of males and Third, while most studies of various aspects of Disney females in a wide variety of venues, including those venues have been historical, narrative, or used qualitative data, that include children as their audience. One of the most well- Faherty (2001) suggested that quantitative studies of various known early studies is that of Weitzman et al. (1972) in aspects of Disney would be a welcome addition to these which they analyzed books written for children. They con- already existing predominantly qualitative studies. While cluded that, “Most children’s books are about boys, men, researchers have made many useful contributions to the lit- and male animals” (p. 1128). When they looked at 284 illus- erature with these qualitative works, quantitative works trations, they found a ratio of 11:1 for pictures of males would provide needed breadth. Consequently, our quantita- compared with females and a ratio of 95:1 for the ratio of tive study helps fill this gap. male animals to female animals. In the 1990s, Kortenhaus Finally, it is important to study the images on the websites and Demarest (1993) used 150 more recent picture books of the five Disney theme parks because they are both a set of and found there were still significantly fewer female charac- images and a venue that have been previously overlooked by ters than male characters though the percentage of female researchers studying Disney or more generally the marketing characters had increased over time. Again, the ratio of male of popular culture through this form of media. The portrayal animal characters to female animal characters was more of gender and race in the images not only reflects the deci- unbalanced than that of human characters. Oskamp et al. sions of marketing executives, but these images may also (1996) looked at preschool picture books published some- shape individuals’ perceptions of gender and race regardless what later and found that 43.7% of human characters were of whether they reflect the reality of the demographics of the female, the most balanced yet. However, 84% of personified population or not. animals were male and 16% were female. The findings of Hamilton et al. (2006) again showed the predominance of male over females in pictures as well as among title charac- Literature Review ters, main characters, and overall characters in 200 popular Although much of childhood socialization occurs as the result children’s picture books. The most recent and most compre- of interaction with other people, media viewed by individuals hensive study of 20th-century children’s books examined the also shapes their perceptions of the world around them gender ratio of male and female central characters and the (Bandura, 2001; Steinberg & Kincheloe, 1997). Children titles of 5,618 children’s books (McCabe et al., 2011). learn about the social construction of reality from many Similar to earlier studies, males were more likely than sources, including images that appear in books as well as females to be included in the titles of these books, boys Auster and Michaud 3 appeared more often than girls as central characters, and the Nevertheless, Wiersma’s (2000) comprehensive, longitu- disparities were even greater for the presence of male and dinal study of Disney’s animated films revealed patterns pre- female animals as central characters. Although the gender viously found in children’s books and other venues, namely disparity persisted in every subgroup of books, there was that males continue to outnumber females. Here, using cal- some variation in the degree of disparity by historical period culations based on her raw data, we found that among the and book series (e.g., Golden books, Caldecott Award win- 282 human and animal characters in 16 films, 71% were ners). Using Tuchman’s (1978) notion of “symbolic annihi- male and 29% were female, and in only one film did females lation,” McCabe et al. (2011) suggested that the outnumber males. In addition, most of the films displayed underrepresentation of female human and animal characters narrowly defined gender roles with regard to physical reflects society’s underlying gender inequalities. appearance, activities, power, personality traits, and sexual- A recent analysis of another source of images, cereal ity (Wiersma, 2000). boxes, revealed that 72% of characters pictured were male In short, female human characters tended to be underrep- while only 28% were female (Black, Marola, Littman, resented relative to male human characters, and this was Chrisler, & Neace, 2009). And as before, the gender differ- even more exaggerated among male and female animal char- ence was more exaggerated among images of animals, of acters. For the most part, these patterns were not only evi- which 90% were male and 10% were female (Black et al., dent in children’s literature, coloring books, and on cereal 2009). Most recently, a study of coloring books displayed boxes, but also in Disney’s animated films. patterns similar to these other forms of media with regard to animals; 82% of the animals depicted in the color books Portrayal of Race were male and 18% were female (Fitzpatrick & McPherson, 2010). However, of characters that were human, 70% were Similar to the studies of the portrayal of gender, a number of female and 30% were male, which was different from some studies have evaluated the portrayal of race using samples of of the findings of studies described above. children’s books. Larrick’s (1965) study of more than 5,000 These general patterns were also born out by specific children’s books from the early 1960s showed that less than studies of media, mostly films, produced by Disney. For 1% made any reference to contemporary African Americans, example, Hoerrner’s (1996) calculations of the demograph- drawing attention to the invisibility of people of color in ics of Disney’s animated films led her to describe them as “a children’s books. Pescosolido et al. (1997) also analyzed world dominated by both human and animal male charac- children’s books and found that the extent to which Blacks ters” (p. 219). Faherty’s (2001) quantitative study of 19 were included in children’s books varied by the extent of Disney films revealed that there were more than twice as racial strife in wider society. More specifically, Blacks were many male characters as female characters. Davis (2006) the least visible during times of racial conflict and challenge. was somewhat more circumspect, acknowledging that the Despite these shifts over time, plotlines and pictures rarely narrowly defined gender roles portrayed in the films were displayed interracial relationships, including childhood and likely to reflect the historical context and era in which they adult friendships, and those that existed were not usually were produced. Do Rozario (2004) further suggested that the central to the plotline. Moreover, Whites and Blacks did not princesses of the early animated films were then carried over typically appear on the same page, and even when they did, into the Magic Kingdom and “perpetuate a timelessness they did not usually “interact in intimate egalitarian ways” detached from social progress” (p. 36), though she acknowl- (Pescosolido et al., 1997, p. 460). edged that the princess characters in some later films, includ- The Cooperative Children’s Book Center (2007) of the ing The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Pocahontas, take on a School of Education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison larger role in making their own choices. Nevertheless, has been collecting data about “trade books typically avail- Giroux’s (1997) analysis indicated that even in films released able for sale to public schools and public libraries.” Even in 1980s and 1990s, the portrayal of female characters was based on the approximately 3,000 books they received in quite traditional, though Pinsky (2004) described more 2007, less than 5% were about African/African Americans recent films as having a “growing assertiveness with which and 2% were about Latinos. Asians were found in another 2% they [Disney films] portray girls and young women” (p. of books, and American Indians were found in less than 1% 264). Towbin et al. (2004) similarly found that while some of the books. Other researchers have also pointed to the invis- films portrayed men and women in narrowly defined roles, ibility of people of color in picture books (Mendoza & Reese, other more recent films included courageous female charac- 2001) as well as in the entertainment media more generally ters and emotionally sensitive male characters though many (Holtzman, 2000). Cortese (2008) reported that only 3% of contained contradictory messages about the value of such people in national advertisements as late as 1990 were Black; traits. Gillam and Wooden (2008) have also pointed to the however, he also noted that more recently, multicultural more nurturing and caring “new man” unveiled in recent advertisements have become increasingly popular as compa- Disney/Pixar films. nies try to be sensitive to people of all races and ethnicities in 4 SAGE Open the global village and want to create markets for their prod- of this article, rather than use the full names of each resort, ucts among these many groups. the two resorts in the United States will be referred to by the With regard to portrayal of people of various races by state in which they are located, namely, California and Disney, Giroux (1997), in his review of Disney films, found Florida, and the remaining three resorts will be referred to by that the early films, in particular, presented denigrating city, namely, Tokyo, Paris, and Hong Kong. images of people of color. In the narratives, Hurley (2005) While some authors have written about the planning, further noted the absence of people of color, particularly design, and architecture of the resorts (Marling, 1997), oth- among the Disney princesses. Using the raw data provided ers have focused more on the biography of Walt Disney and by Faherty’s (2001) quantitative study of 19 Disney films, how that was intertwined with the business of Disney (Watts, we found that of the 195 characters that he coded by race, 1997). Most authors have written using their academic 81.5% of the characters were of European or European expertise, but others have brought their own perspective as a American descent, while characters coded as African Disney employee (Lainsbury, 2000) to their work. Regardless American, American Indian, Arabic, Asian, or Hispanic of these authors’ perspectives, all of them acknowledge the together comprised only 18.5% of the characters. Others powerful influence of The Walt Disney Company on con- have observed that in many films, marginalized groups were sumer culture. In addition to the Disney resorts, the company portrayed negatively, stereotypically, or often not at all (Bell has infiltrated many different kinds of markets with Walt et al., 1995; Mo & Shen, 2000; Pewewardy, 1996; Pinsky, Disney Studios, Disney Channels, ABC Television Network, 2004; Towbin et al., 2004), though Pinsky (2004) acknowl- ESPN, and Disney Consumer Products, including toys, edged that some of the portrayals merely reflected the his- apparel, home décor, electronics, food, books, and maga- torical context and era in which they were produced. Similar zines (The Walt Disney Company, 2010a). Giroux (1997) to Pescosolido et al.’s (1997) findings about books, Towbin explained that children, in particular, “experience Disney’s et al. (2004) found Disney films tended to display friend- cultural influence through a maze of representations and ships between characters who were similar; this suggests that products” (p. 54). According to Davis (2006), “Disney friendships between those of different races might not fit became an inseparable aspect of American popular culture . . . Disney’s portrayal. Cortese (2008) further believed that lim- an integral part of the American social fabric” (p. 222). If iting images of interethnic contact creates even more social Disney films are “vehicles of cultural production” (Bell distance between majority and minority groups. Finally, et al., 1995, p. 7), then the resorts so tightly associated with Pescosolido et al. (1997) suggested that the notion of sym- such films can certainly be thought of in the same vein. bolic annihilation that Tuchman (1978) applied to gender can be extended to race; here, the invisibility of people of Hypotheses color in images symbolically reflects racial inequality. Compared with females, people of color have been much For several decades, social scientists have been studying the less visible in many forms of media, including Disney narra- portrayal of gender and race in a variety of forms of media tives and films, though both females and people of color for children, including media produced by Disney. This have been portrayed in stereotypical and often denigrating study examines the following categories: (a) Disney human ways. However, unlike the female characters in Disney sto- characters, (b) Disney human-like characters, (c) Disney ries who were often intimately involved with males as family animal characters, (d) Disney cast members, and (e) guests members, friends, and romantic partners, Whites and people at the Disney resorts. For our purposes, Disney human char- of color were not often shown engaged with one another in acters included Aladdin, Belle, Prince Charming, Snow these types of intimate relationships. White, and many others; some were actual people dressed in costume, while others were animatrons of human characters or life-size two-dimensional cutouts. Human-like characters The Walt Disney Company included C-3PO from Star Wars, Woody from Toy Story, and In 1923, Walt Disney and his brother Roy founded the the talking playing cards from Alice in Wonderland. These Disney Brothers Studio for the purpose of producing and appeared human-like in that they typically had a face, arms, distributing cartoons and releasing the “Alice Comedies” and legs, but their characters in a Disney film did not have (Davis, 2006, p. 73). In 1928, Mickey Mouse made his pub- flesh but were made, for example, of plastic, wood, or metal, lic debut in a short film, “Plane Crazy” (Davis, 2006, pp. or they appeared only in a cartoon-like form. Animal char- 26-27). By 1955, Disneyland, the first of five Disney resorts, acters were those that were fully animals, such as Mickey opened in Anaheim, California, followed by the opening of Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Donald Duck, even if they were the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Orlando, clothed. Although Disney uses the term cast member to refer Florida, in 1971. Tokyo Disney Resort opened in 1983, and to all employees, we used cast member to refer only to Disneyland Paris, formerly Euro Disney, opened in 1992 Disney employees who were not a specific character as (Marling, 1997). Hong Kong Disneyland opened in 2005, 50 defined above. This would include, for example, waitresses, years after the opening of the first resort. Throughout the rest ride operators, and dancers in shows. Finally, guests, a Auster and Michaud 5 Disney term, was used to refer to those who are visitors at a As a result of the findings of past studies, we developed Disney resort. the following hypotheses regarding gender: Much of our study focused on the gender of those in the images on the five Disney websites used to market the theme Hypothesis 1 (H1): Overall, there will be more male- parks in California, Florida, Hong Kong, Paris, and Tokyo dominated images than females-dominated images (The Walt Disney Company, 2010b) and the extent to which for each of the following categories: human charac- they would replicate the findings of previous studies, includ- ters, human-like characters, cast members, animals, ing those of children’s literature and Disney films. Previous and guests. Consequently, the gender disparity val- studies indicated that there were more male than female ues will be positive for all five of these categories. characters in a variety of forms of children’s literature Hypothesis 2 (H2): Overall, the gender disparity value (Hamilton et al., 2006; Kortenhaus & Demarest, 1993; will be highest for animals. McCabe et al., 2011; Oskamp et al., 1996; Weitzman et al., Hypothesis 3 (H3): Overall, the gender disparity value 1972) as well as in the images on cereal boxes (Black et al., will be lowest for guests. 2009) and in coloring books (Fitzpatrick & McPherson, Hypothesis 4 (H4): For each of the a) resorts (Cali- 2010). Some studies of Disney animated films revealed this fornia, Florida, Hong Kong, Paris, Tokyo), b) lands same pattern (Davis, 2006; Faherty, 2001; Giroux, 1997; (e.g., Fantasyland, Adventureland), and c) activities Hoerrner, 1996; Wiersma 2000). In many of these studies, (attractions, entertainment, dining), there will be the disparity between males and females was even greater more male-dominated images than female-domi- for animal characters (Black et al., 2009; Fitzpatrick & nated images for each of the following categories: McPherson, 2010; Kortenhaus & Demarest, 1993; McCabe human characters, human-like characters, cast et al., 2011; Oskamp et al., 1996; Weitzman et al., 1972). members, animals, and guests. Consequently, the Although the findings of previous studies suggest hypoth- gender disparity values will be positive for all of eses with regard to Disney characters and cast members, these categories. none of these studies examined images of guests at Disney Hypothesis 5 (H5): For each of the a) resorts, b) lands, resorts. Davis (2006) acknowledged that images of males and c) activities, the gender disparity values will be and females portrayed in films likely reflected the historical highest for animals. era in which they were produced. As seen above, the images Hypothesis 6 (H6): For each of the a) resorts, b) lands, of males have exceeded the images of females in a variety of and c) activities, the gender disparity values will be venues, but Disney marketing executives would not be tied lowest for guests. to past characters or films in their choice of the gender of Hypothesis 7 (H7): Among guests, parent-child com- guests in the images. However, because boys tend to avoid binations will be more likely to be of the same sex that which appears feminine, Schor (2004) suggested that than of the opposite sex. That is, fathers will be males must be pervasive in advertisements for items for more likely to be pictured with sons than daughters, boys, while girls are more likely to cross gender lines. and mothers will be more likely to be pictured with Similarly, Auster and Mansbach (2012) found that the Disney daughters than sons. toys marketed to both boys and girls, rather than to boys only or girls only, resembled toys for boys rather than toys for We also focused on the race of those portrayed in the girls in terms of their color. Thus, one might surmise that images. Past research pointed to the relative invisibility of even though Disney wants males and females to visit Disney people of color in American children’s books (The resorts, images of males would exceed images of females. Cooperative Children’s Book Center, 2007; Mendoza & Although past studies would generally suggest that there Reese, 2001; Pescosolido et al., 1997), and in Disney films, would be more images of male guests than female guests, people of color were portrayed negatively, stereotypically, or marketing executives could have selected images of guests not at all (Bell et al., 1995; Faherty, 2001; Hurley, 2005; Mo that reflect somewhat more gender parity. & Shen, 2000; Pewewardy, 1996; Pinsky, 2004; Towbin et To be able to compare the direction and degree of dispar- al., 2004). These findings about characters in American chil- ity across a variety of categories, we used gender disparity dren’s books and Disney films suggest that the number of values, calculated by subtracting the percentage of female- White guests displayed in the images would exceed the dominated images from the percentage of male-dominated number of people of color displayed in the images, even images for each category. A positive value indicated that the beyond the proportion of people of color in the population. percentage of male-dominated images exceeded the percent- Although this seemed a reasonable prediction for the age of female-dominated images, a negative value indicated California, Florida, and Paris resorts, it seemed to be an that the percentage of female-dominated images exceeded illogical prediction for the Hong Kong and Tokyo resorts the number of male-dominated images, and a zero indicated because their populations are largely Asian, and Disney that the percentage of male-dominated images and the per- needs to be sure to market its resorts to potential visitors in centage of female-dominated images were equal. the country in which the resort is located. 6 SAGE Open Hypothesis 8 (H8): Although the racial diversity of of the webpages for entertainment sites (M = 2.09 images) guests will vary by resort and reflect the existence and more than 90% of webpages for dining establishments of diverse racial groups in that country’s popula- (M = 1.85) had only two images, this was true for about 50% tion, the dominant racial group in the country of the of webpages for attractions (M = 4.14 images). Since screen location of the resort will be most frequent in the shots were taken of all 1,027 images for attractions, enter- images, and interracial friendship groups and fami- tainment, and dining that appeared on the websites for the lies will be extremely rare or invisible. five resorts, all of the 1,027 images were initially considered for potential inclusion in analysis. We then retained all images that had human characters, human-like characters, Method animal, cast members, or guests that could be coded by gen- Sample der and excluded any images that had only a sign or an image of the attraction as well as those images in which people in a The most recognizable of Disney’s theme parks are the crowd in the background were so small that we could not Disneyland Parks in California, Paris, Tokyo, and Hong code them for gender or race. For example, the image of Kong, and their equivalent in Florida, the Magic Kingdom. “Space Mountain: Mission 2” in Paris, which showed only Some theme parks are only found in some of the resorts, the large dome-like figure that was outside of the ride, was such as the Animal Kingdom and Epcot in Florida, Disney excluded, whereas the image containing The Mad Hatter Studios in Florida and Paris, California Adventure in enjoying a ride in a giant teacup with a man and two children California, and Tokyo Disney Sea in Tokyo. Although each was retained. This yielded 452 images: 287 images of attrac- of these theme parks exists within some of the Disney tions, 95 images of entertainment, and 70 images of dining. resorts, the resorts in California, Florida, Hong Kong, Paris, Inferential statistics were not utilized in the analyses because and Tokyo all include the Disneyland Park/Magic Kingdom, the 452 images constitute a population. which also best reflects classic Disney, complete with a castle resembling the image that appears at the opening of Measures Disney films and television programs. As a result, we focused on only the four Disneyland Parks and the Magic Using the listings on the Disney website, each image was Kingdom to see how gender and race were portrayed in assigned three codes, two of which represented the location: images used to market the Disney resorts. (a) resort, such as Florida or Hong Kong; (b) land within the Each year, The Disney Company markets its resorts to theme park, such as Fantasyland or Tomorrowland; and (c) millions of people using brochures, booklets, DVDs, and type of activity, namely, attraction, entertainment, or dining. websites. We analyzed only the official English language For the 452 images in the sample, separate variables for version of the Disney websites associated with the four Disney human characters, human-like characters, animal Disneyland Parks and the Magic Kingdom. Although there characters, and cast members were created and coded on the were words on all of these websites, we analyzed only the basis of the gender of those in the image, including catego- still images to see whom, by gender and race, The Disney ries such as single male or two females and a male. When Company marketing executives chose for their potential there were four or more discernible characters or cast mem- guests to see. Whether potential guests are thrill seekers or bers in a group, we coded the group as all-male, mostly fans of their favorite cartoon mouse, guests must ride, male, all-female, mostly female, or gender balanced. The watch, and eat to have the complete Disney experience. On gender display, including hairstyle, figure, clothing, and all five of the Disney resort websites, The Disney Company accessories, were used to determine gender. The detailed presented and we chose to use all of the images associated categories were later recoded into only five categories: (a) with three activities: (a) attractions, namely, rides, interac- all-male, which included single males, two males, and all- tive and walk-through activities, and play areas; (b) enter- male groups; (b) predominantly male, which included tainment, namely, shows and parades; and (c) dining. three-person groups with two males and one female as well Although websites for all five resorts included shopping as groups that were predominantly male; (c) gender bal- and places to stay, nearly all of the images of these were anced, which included one male and one female and bal- devoid of characters and guests to code. Moreover, places anced groups; (d) predominantly female, which included to stay, though on resort property, were not located within three-person groups with two females and one male as well the theme parks. as groups that were predominantly female; and (e) all- When the number of attractions, entertainment shows, female, which included single females, two females, and and dining establishments were added together across the all-female groups. Of the images that contained Disney five resorts, this yielded a total of 343 activities. Each activ- characters or cast members, less than 5% of the images ity was displayed on a separate webpage on the Disney web- were predominantly male and less than 5% of the images site, sometimes with multiple images to market that activity, were predominantly female. Because these percentages yielding a total of 1,027 separate images. While about 75% were so low, the five categories of images were recoded into Auster and Michaud 7 three categories for use in the analysis: (a) “male-domi- ables representing race of guests also produced high Cohen’s nated,” which included images that were all male or pre- kappa values: Whites (.96), Blacks (.95), Latinos (.95), dominantly male; (b) “gender balanced,” same as above; Asians (.96), and unidentified people of color (.95). and (c) “female-dominated,” which included images that Regardless of the race with which guests might have identi- were all female or predominantly female. fied, the coders were likely to agree on the apparent race of To accurately depict guests with regard to gender, we used guests. The kappa values may also have been high because the same categories as before, but we added additional codes of the “unidentified people of color” category that may have that would allow us to analyze family groups, such as female captured those guests who might have otherwise have cre- parent with same-sex child, male parent with two or more ated more coding discrepancies between the two coders. same-sex children, or two parents and mixed-sex children. As Although we were prepared to resolve the coding discrepan- before, we created five categories and then reduced them to cies by alternating between the two coders’ choices of codes three categories using the same criteria and method as for the (Auster & Mansbach, 2012; Lombard et al., 2010), we found Disney characters and Disney cast members. it more fruitful to discuss the details of the image and We also considered four categories of race/ethnicity, here- resolved the discrepancies using that method (Lombard et after referred to as race: White, Black, Latino, and Asian. al., 2010). These were among the categories used by previous research- ers (The Cooperative Children’s Book Center, 2007; Faherty, Results 2001). Separate variables were created for each of these four categories, and each image was coded for whether there were Human Characters, Human-Like Characters, individuals of that race in the image or not. Admittedly, by Animals, Cast Members, and Guests using such markers as skin color or eye shape, we based our judgments only on how individuals appeared; we did not Based on previous research on children’s literature and other know what actual race they might be or with what race they media, for H1 we predicted that there would be more male- identified. Nevertheless, our assumption for race and for dominated images than female-dominated images for each gender was that potential guests viewing these images in category. The gender disparity values calculated for each anticipation of a trip to Disney would be likely to classify category are displayed in the first column of numbers in individuals in the same way. We added a fifth category of Table 1. The positive gender disparity values indicated that race, unidentifiable people of color, for those individuals H1 was supported for animals (73.0%), human-like charac- who appeared to be people of color, but whose race was not ters (23.3%), human characters (18.6%), and cast members easily discernible. (8.0%), but this hypothesis was not supported for guests (−4.1%) because the gender disparity value was negative. With the gender disparity values displayed in descending Reliability order, it is evident that H2, that the gender disparity value It was not necessary to measure the intercoder reliability of would be highest for animals (73.0%), and H3, that the gen- resort, land, or activity because these were determined by der disparity value would be lowest for guests (−4.1%), were the listings on the Disney websites and required no judgment supported. In addition, it is notable that there were more by us. Both researchers coded the 452 images. To evaluate gender-balanced images (27.3%) for guests than for any the intercoder reliability, a systematic sample of every fourth other category. image was taken, yielding a sample of 114 or 25.2% of the sample, exceeding the minimum of 50 units or 10% of the Resorts full sample recommended by Lombard, Snyder-Duch, and Bracken (2010). Cohen’s kappa was then used as the index To test H4a, H5a, and H6a, all of the gender disparity values of intercoder reliability. The three-category version of the for human characters, human-like characters, animals, cast gender-balance variable (i.e., male-dominated image, members, and guests for each of the five resorts were calcu- female-dominated image, and gender-balanced image) was lated, yielding the 25 gender disparity values that appear in used in the calculation of Cohen’s kappa because that was the first column of numbers in Table 2. These values were the version of the variable used in the analyses. The Cohen’s arranged in descending order by resort. H4a, which pre- kappa values were very high for the gender coding of all of dicted that the percentage of male-dominated images would the categories: human characters (.96), human-like charac- exceed the percentage of female-dominated images, was ters (.93), animals (.90), cast members (.95), and guests partially supported for resorts. This hypothesis was sup- (.95). The ease with which the gender of individual charac- ported for 17 of the 25 categories; that is, 68.0% of the ters and guests could be determined using manifest content gender disparity values that appear in the first column of may be the result of Disney’s choice to display males and numbers were positive. Hypothesis 4a was not supported by females easily identified by traditional markers of gender, the 5 gender disparity values equal to 0 or the remaining 3 including clothing, accessories, and hairstyle. The five vari- gender disparity values that were negative. 8 SAGE Open Table 1. Images of Human Characters, Human-Like Characters, Animals, Cast Members, and Guests by Gender Percentage Gender disparity Male-dominated Female-dominated Gender-balanced Category value images images images n Animals 73.0 82.9 9.9 7.2 111 Human-like characters 23.3 55.4 32.1 12.5 56 Human characters 18.6 52.6 34.0 13.4 97 Cast members 8.0 46.6 38.6 14.8 88 Guests −4.1 34.1 38.2 27.6 217 The combined percentage of male-dominated, female-dominated, and balanced images displayed in each row equals 100% of the n for that row. The gender disparity value, measured in percentage, was calculated by subtracting the percentage of female-dominated images from the percentage of male-dominated images. Table 2. Images of Human Characters, Human-Like Characters, Animals, Cast Members, and Guests by Gender and Resort Percentage Gender disparity Male-dominated Female-dominated Gender-balanced Resort Category value images images images n California Animals 53.9 71.8 17.9 10.3 39 Cast members 38.5 66.7 28.2 5.1 39 Human 19.5 56.5 37.0 6.5 46 Human-like 0.0 42.9 42.9 14.3 28 Guests −8.1 31.9 40.0 28.1 135 Florida Animals 89.7 93.1 3.4 3.4 29 Cast members 60.0 60.0 0.0 40.0 5 Human 4.0 44.0 40.0 16.0 25 Human-like 0.0 42.9 42.9 14.3 7 Guests −12.5 33.3 45.8 20.8 24 Hong Kong Animals 77.8 88.9 11.1 0.0 9 Human-like 60.0 80.0 20.0 0.0 5 Cast members 27.3 45.5 18.2 36.4 11 Human 0.0 40.0 40.0 20.0 5 Guests 0.0 28.6 28.6 42.9 14 Paris Animals 87.5 87.5 0.0 12.5 16 Human-like 63.6 81.8 18.2 0.0 11 Human 50.0 62.5 12.5 25.0 16 Guests 8.3 44.4 36.1 19.4 36 Cast members 0.0 50.0 50.0 0.0 10 Tokyo Animals 73.7 84.2 10.5 5.3 19 Human-like 66.7 66.7 0.0 33.3 6 Human 16.7 50.0 33.3 16.7 6 Guests 9.1 36.4 27.3 36.4 11 Cast members −60.9 8.7 69.6 21.7 23 The combined percentage of male-dominated, female-dominated, and balanced images displayed in each row equals 100% of the n for that row. The gender disparity value, measured in percentage, was calculated by subtracting the percentage of female-dominated images from the percentage of male-dominated images. More specifically, H4a was supported by the gender dis- gender disparity values for Hong Kong (66.0%), Paris parity values for animals for all five resorts and for human (63.6%), and Tokyo (66.7%) offered support for the hypoth- characters for four of five resorts but not for Hong Kong esis; however, for California and Florida, the gender disparity (0.0%). For images of human-like characters, the positive value was 0. For cast members, the gender disparity values Auster and Michaud 9 supported H4a for California (38.5%), Florida (60.0%), and guests, for which the gender disparity values were negative Hong Kong (27.3%), but not for Paris (0.0%) and Tokyo (−50.0% and −40.0%, respectively). For Liberty Square/New (−60.9%). For guests, the gender disparity values supported Orleans Square, with waterfront scenes of early America, H4a for Paris (8.3%) and Tokyo (9.1%), but not for California three of the four eligible categories did not support the (−8.1%), Florida (−12.5%), and Hong Kong (0.0%) hypothesis; the gender disparity values for human-like char- Hypothesis 5a, which predicted that the gender disparity acters (−14.2%) and guests (−47.0%) were negative and the values would be highest for animals, was supported by each gender disparity was 0.0% for animals because all five images of the five resorts: California (53.9%), Florida (89.7%), were gender balanced. Hong Kong (77.8%), Paris (87.5%), and Tokyo (73.7%). Fantasyland, a land of magic that reflects Disney’s classic Hypothesis 6a, which predicted that the gender disparity val- animated films, was notably different from the other lands. ues would be lowest for guests, was supported for California While positive gender disparity values supported the hypoth- (−8.1%), Florida (−12.5%), and Hong Kong (0.0%). Even esis for animals (76.4%) and cast members (44.5%), the gen- when H6a was not supported for the other two resorts der disparity values were negative or near parity not only for because cast members had a gender disparity value in Paris guests (−42.8%), but also for human (−3.7) and human-like of 0.0% and an extremely low gender disparity value in (−4.8) characters, both of which had notable positive gender Tokyo (−60.9%), there was still a dramatic difference disparity values for the other seven lands. between the gender disparity values in Paris and Tokyo for Hypothesis 5b focused on the highest gender disparity val- animals (87.5% and 73.7%, respectively) compared with ues for each land. For those categories that had five images or guests (8.3% and 9.1%, respectively). In addition, relative to more, images that included animals yielded the highest gender other types of images, the highest percentage of gender-bal- disparity value for six of the eight lands, namely, Adventureland anced images was found for guests for California (28.1%), (70.0%), Critter Country (60.0%), Fantasyland (76.4%), Hong Kong (42.9%), and Tokyo (36.4%) and was ranked Frontierland/Westernland (86.6%), Main Street USA/World second for the percentage of balanced images for Florida Bazaar (65.6%), and Toontown (80.0%), a land where guests (20.8%) and Paris (19.4%). can visit the houses of Mickey Mouse and his friends. Although H5b was not supported for two lands for which the gender disparity value for animals was 0.0%, Liberty Square/ Lands New Orleans Square and Discoveryland/Tomorrowland, there The hypotheses regarding lands, H4b, H5b, and H6c, were were only 5 images of animals for each. For Discoveryland/ tested using the gender disparity values for the human char- Tomorrowland, however, the gender disparity value for acters, human-like characters, animals, cast members, and human-like characters (84.6%) far exceeded that of animals guests. All of the gender disparity values for each of the eight (60.0%), not lending support to H5b. lands were calculated, yielding 40 gender disparity values. The gender disparity values for seven of eight lands sup- The values were then arranged in descending order by land; ported H6b, the prediction that guests would have the lowest however, the 10 categories with fewer than five images, iden- gender disparity value; Adventureland was the exception tified with the superscript “d” in Table 3, were not considered with cast members having a lower disparity value (−50.0%) in the evaluation of the hypotheses. Hypothesis 4b, which than guests (28.0%). predicted that the percentage of male-dominated images would exceed the percentage of female-dominated images, Activities was supported for 22 of the 30 categories; that is, 70.0% of gender disparity values that appear in the first column of The gender disparity values were calculated for each of the numbers in Table 3 were positive. However, H4b was not three activities, namely, attractions, entertainment, and din- supported by the gender disparity value that was equal to 0 or ing, for human characters, human-like characters, animals, the remaining 7 gender disparity values that were negative. cast members, and guests. The gender disparity values were More specifically, for those categories with more than five then arranged in descending order by activity; however, the images, the gender disparity values were positive for human 2 categories with fewer than five images, identified with the characters, human-like characters, animals, cast members, superscript “c” in Table 4, were not considered in the evalu- and guests for three lands: Discoveryland/Tomorrowland, ation of the hypotheses. H4c was supported by 10 of the 13 lands focused on the future and worlds beyond; Frontierland/ categories; that is, 76.9% of gender disparity values that Westernland, lands where cowboys show guests the ways of appear in first column of numbers in Table 4 were positive. old West; and Main Street USA/World Bazaar, lands filled The remaining three gender disparity values were negative with shops that have everything Disney where visitors are for guests in images of entertainment (−15.8%) and dining greeted with scenes of the 1900s. For Adventureland, filled (−31.1%) and for cast members (−30.0) in images of dining. with exotic areas and jungle exploration, and Critter Country, Hypothesis 5c, which predicted that images with animals a land where woodland creatures can hang out or have a would have the highest gender disparity value, and H6c, which splash, the hypothesis was supported for all categories except predicted that images with guests would have the lowest 10 SAGE Open Table 3. Images of Human Characters, Human-Like Characters, Cast Members, Animals, and Guests by Gender and Land Percentage Gender disparity Male-dominated Female-dominated Gender-balanced a c Land Category value images images images n Adventureland (CFHPT) Human-like 100.0 100.0 0.0 0.0 1 Animals 70.0 80.0 10.0 10.0 10 Human 46.7 60.0 13.3 26.7 15 Guests 28.0 56.0 28.0 16.0 25 Cast members −50.0 14.3 64.3 21.4 14 Critter Country (C) Animals 60.0 60.0 0.0 40.0 5 Cast members 0.0 50.0 50.0 0.0 2 Human 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 Human-like 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 Guests −40.0 10.0 50.0 40.0 10 Discoveryland (P)/ Human-like 84.6 84.6 0.0 15.4 13 Tomorrowland (CFHT) Animals 60.0 80.0 20.0 0.0 5 Human 50.0 70.0 20.0 10.0 10 Cast members 16.7 50.0 33.3 16.7 12 Guests 12.8 42.6 29.8 27.7 47 Fantasyland (CFHPT) Animals 76.4 88.2 11.8 0.0 34 Cast members 44.5 66.7 22.2 11.0 6 Human-like −3.7 40.7 44.4 14.8 27 Human −4.8 41.5 46.3 12.2 41 Guests −42.8 14.3 57.1 28.6 49 Frontierland (CFP)/ Animals 86.6 93.3 6.7 0.0 15 e d Westernland (T) Human-like 50.0 50.0 0.0 50.0 2 Cast members 44.5 66.7 22.2 11.1 18 Guests 20.7 51.7 31.0 17.2 29 Human −100.0 0.0 100.0 0.0 2 Liberty Square (F)/ Human 69.2 84.6 15.4 0.0 13 New Orleans Square (C) Animals 0.0 0.0 0.0 100.0 5 Human-like −14.2 42.9 57.1 0.0 7 Guests −47.0 5.9 52.9 41.2 17 Cast members −50.0 25.0 75.0 0.0 4 Main Street USA (CFHP)/ Animals 65.6 75.0 9.4 15.6 32 World Bazaar (T) Human-like 42.8 71.4 28.6 0.0 7 Human 35.7 57.1 21.4 21.4 14 Cast members 29.0 54.8 25.8 19.4 31 Guests 6.5 35.5 29.0 35.5 31 Toontown (CFT) Animals 80.0 90.0 10.0 0.0 10 Guests 9.1 45.5 36.4 18.2 11 Human −100.0 0.0 100.0 0.0 2 Human-like −100.0 0.0 100.0 0.0 1 Cast members −100.0 0.0 100.0 0.0 1 The resorts in which each land was found is listed in parentheses: C=California, F=Florida, H=Hong Kong, P=Paris, and T=Tokyo. The combined percent of male-dominated, female-dominated, and balanced images displayed in each row equals 100% of the n for that row. The gender disparity value, measured in percent, was calculated by subtracting the percent of female-dominated images from the percent of male-dominated images. The category was not included in the evaluation of hypotheses because n<5. The two lands listed for this category were equivalent and their images were combined for this analysis. Auster and Michaud 11 Table 4. Images of Human Characters, Human-Like Characters, Cast Members, Animals, and Guests by Gender and Activity Percentage Gender disparity Male-dominated Female-dominated Gender-balanced Activity Category value images images images n Attractions Animals 78.5 86.3 7.8 5.9 51 Cast members 55.6 77.8 22.2 0.0 18 Human 19.5 54.2 34.7 11.1 72 Human-like 15.5 51.1 35.6 13.3 45 Guests 4.5 39.1 34.6 26.3 156 Entertainment Animals 72.7 81.8 9.1 9.1 55 Human-like 50.0 70.0 20.0 10.0 10 Cast members 15.0 42.5 27.5 30.0 40 Human 4.5 40.9 36.4 22.7 22 Guests −15.8 31.6 47.4 21.1 19 Dining Human 100.0 100.0 0.0 0.0 4 Human-like 100.0 100.0 0.0 0.0 2 Animals 33.4 66.7 33.3 0.0 6 Cast members −30.0 33.3 63.3 3.3 30 Guests −31.1 17.8 48.9 33.3 45 The combined percentage of male-dominated, female-dominated, and balanced images displayed in each row equals 100% of the n for that row. The gender disparity value, measured in percentage, was calculated by subtracting the percentage of female-dominated images from the percentage of male-dominated images. The category was not included in the evaluation of hypotheses because n<5. gender disparity value for each activity, were supported for the results displayed in Table 5. Nearly two thirds of images all three activities. Despite this, the gender disparity value with a male parent only were pictured with boys (65.2%) for animals was much higher for attractions (78.5%) and rather than girls (21.8%) or both boys and girls (13.0%). entertainment (72.7%) than for dining (33.4%), and the gen- Nearly two thirds of images with a female parent only were der disparity value for guests was lowest for images of din- pictured with girls (62.5%) rather than boys (25.0%) or both ing (−31.1%) followed by entertainment (−15.8%) and girls and boys (12.5%). This sex segregation was even more attractions (4.5%). The highest percentage of gender-bal- surprising because images of male parents only (30.3%), anced images was found for guests for attractions (26.5%) female parents only (31.6%), and both a male and female and dining (33.3%) and among cast members (30.0%) for parent (38.1%) were divided relatively equally as were entertainment. images of boys only (38.2%) and girls only (39.4%). In short, there were more images of father-boy(s) combinations and mother-girl(s) combinations than mixed-sex parent- Guest Parents and Children child combinations. To test H7, that guest parents and children combinations would be more likely to be of the same sex than of the oppo- Race site sex, additional detailed coding was done for those images that appeared to be of family groupings. Family With regard to race, we predicted that the racial group rep- images included those that appeared to be, for example, a resenting the statistical majority in each country in which the mother and her daughter or a father with three children. Disney resort was located would most often appear in the Although the adults with children in these images may not images. Although logic might suggest this, H8 was also have been the parents, they will be referred to as parents in informed by research on children’s books in the United this analysis. The images were coded in a way that took into States as well as other forms of media that revealed that account the gender of any children as well as that of the par- people of color, the statistical minority in the United States, ent or parents, which were coded as male parent only, female were often invisible. Based on more specific results reported parent only, or both male/female parents. In addition, all of in the literature indicating that those of different races were the images of families were analyzed together rather than by not shown interacting in “intimate egalitarian ways” resort, land, or activity. (Pescosolido et al., 1997), we also hypothesized that inter- Hypothesis 7, concerning the likelihood of parent and racial friendship groups and families would be extremely child combinations being of the same sex, was supported by rare or invisible even if there was greater diversity in the 12 SAGE Open Table 5. Images of Guest Parents and Children by Gender California (67.9%), and Florida (41.7%), there were a higher percentage of images that had Whites than those of other Percentage racial groups. This is not surprising because Whites are the statistically dominant group in the United States (U.S. Gender of children Census Bureau, 2012, Table 6). The images of California Boys Girls Both Parent and Florida displayed more racial diversity than the other Gender of parents only only sexes total n resorts; these two resorts are also located in the United States, the country with the most racially diverse population Male parent only 65.2 21.8 13.0 30.3 23 of those considered in this analysis (U.S. Census Bureau, Female parent only 25.0 62.5 12.5 31.6 24 2012, Table 6). For example, Blacks, Latinos, and Asians Male and female 27.6 34.5 37.9 38.1 29 parents each were found in about 15% of the images for California, Total 38.2 39.4 22.4 100.0 76 and for Florida, Blacks and Asians each were included in n=29 n=30 n=17 n=76 about 30% of the images, though Latinos (4.2%) were nota- bly underrepresented. For Paris, 91.2% of images had The combined percentage of images of boys only, girls only, and both Whites and 8.8% had Blacks, but there was no basis for sexes displayed in each row equals 100% of the n for that row. The combined percentage of images of male parent only, female parent comparison because the French government does not collect only, and male and female parents in the parent total column equals 100% data on race and ethnicity. of n = 76. Another way we looked at the race of the guests was how they were placed in the images, more specifically the extent to which they seemed to “interact in egalitarian ways” Table 6. Race of Guests by Resort (Pescosolido et al., 1997, p. 460), a more qualitative assess- Percentage of images ment. Although individuals of different races rarely appeared in the same images, some were sitting in separate cars on a Race of guests ride or at separate tables in a restaurant. For example, in the Unidenti- image of “Cinderella’s Royal Table”, a dining establishment Resort White Black Latino Asian fiable n in Florida, there was a family of Asians, another a family of Blacks, and an adult White couple, each sitting at different California 67.9 17.2 14.2 15.7 4.5 134 tables. However, in California, “Davy Crockett’s Explorer Florida 41.7 33.3 4.2 29.2 4.2 24 Canoes” showed about 15 young people of different races all Hong Kong 7.1 0.0 0.0 100.0 0.0 14 in the same boat, smiling and paddling together. And in Paris 91.2 8.8 0.0 5.9 0.0 34 Paris, there was an image of girls of different races gathered Tokyo 0.0 0.0 0.0 100.0 0.0 10 around a map in “Adventure Isle,” freely mingling with one n=133 n=34 n=20 n=53 n=7 n=216 another. There were also occasional images of interracial Since each race was coded separately and there is the possibility of more couples or groups, such as the image of the “Tiki Juice Bar” than one race in an image, the percentages in a row may add up to more in California, in which a couple comprised of a White male than 100%. Person of color of unidentifiable race. and a Black female was shown. In addition, we noticed that images of cast members images for resorts in countries with a more racially diverse sometimes included those of several different races. An population. image of the “Dream-Along With Mickey” stage show in We chose to test H8, concerning race, among guests only Florida had cast members of several races on the stage. (see Table 6) because the images of guests would not have to Perhaps they were not interacting in an intimate egalitarian reflect classic Disney characters, potentially providing relationship, but they were working together. This was simi- Disney marketing executives more room for variation and lar to one of the images of “Pixie Hollow–Tinker Bell and choice of race in the images. Since each race was coded sep- Her Fairy Friends” in Fantasyland in California, in which arately for each image of guests, the figures reported in Table five smiling human fairies of several races were displayed. 6 indicate the percentage of images for that resort had people In short, the four resorts for which national data were of that race in an image. This means, for example, that 67.9% available supported H8, that the statistically dominant group of the images for California had Whites in them. Because would appear most often in the images, and Florida and there is the possibility of more than one race in the image, California revealed the greatest racial diversity in the images rows can add up to more than 100%. of the guests. When images were viewed more closely, peo- For Hong Kong and Tokyo, each of which has a popula- ple of different races were shown working together when tion that is 95% or more Asian (Central Intelligence Agency, they were engaged in a Disney activity, but few images dis- 2012), 100% of the images displayed Asians and the images played more intimate egalitarian relationships between those for these two resorts displayed the least racial diversity. For of different races. Auster and Michaud 13 and Pluto were male, such that even a study in the present Discussion that focused on theme parks filled with such characters might We conducted a study of the images of attractions, entertain- reflect more of the past than the present; Do Rozario (2004) ment, and dining establishments that appeared on the official suggested this may “perpetuate a timelessness detached from websites of five Disney resorts to examine human charac- social progress” (p. 36). In different ways, several research- ters, human-like characters, animals, and cast members in ers acknowledged that the historical era from which many of terms of gender as well as guests in terms of both gender and these characters emerged may be an explanation (Davis, race. Our overarching hypothesis regarding gender was that 2006) for their role in films, while others acknowledged this there would be more male-dominated images than female- and noted change over time in Disney films (Gillam & dominated images. This was best measured by the calcula- Wooden, 2008; Pinsky, 2004; Towbin et al., 2004). tion of the gender disparity value. Overall, H1 was supported Nevertheless, Davis (2006) pointed out that the continued for human characters, human-like characters, animals, and popularity of these classic stories indicates that parents and cast members, but not for guests. In addition, the hypothesis their children continue to relate to such stories. was supported by 68.0% of the gender disparity values for The existence of so many classic Disney characters may the five resorts (H4a), 70.0% of the gender disparity values also explain why the number of images of males outnum- for the eight lands (H4b), and 76.9% of the gender disparity bered the images of females more so for attractions and for values for activities (H4c). Interestingly, across all of those entertainment, for which Disney must include its past, than categories, only 19 of the 68 gender disparity values did not for dining establishments, which need only represent the support the hypothesis; of those, 8 were values for guests, present. The negative gender disparity value for cast mem- while the remaining 11 were values spread across human bers for dining may also reflect the presence of food servers, characters, human-like characters, and cast members, but who were predominantly female, particularly in Tokyo. not animals. In addition, the hypothesis that gender disparity Although no other particular resort stood out more than oth- values would be highest for animals was supported for all ers in terms of the hypotheses related to gender, there were five resorts (H5a), six of eight lands (H5b), and all three some differences by land. The greater number of negative activities (H5c). Likewise, the hypothesis that the gender gender disparity values, meaning the percentage of female- disparity value would be lowest for guests was supported by dominated images exceeded the percentage of male-domi- three of five resorts (H6a), six of eight lands (H6b), and all nated images, in Fantasyland may result from that land being three activities (H6c). Thus, although there were variations, the home of many of the classic Disney princesses, while all of these hypotheses were more likely than not to be sup- Frontierland/Westernland focused more on cowboys, with ported by the gender disparity values. Many of the findings the emphasis here on boys, such as Woody from Toy Story. were reminiscent of past research on children’s literature Guests overall had the lowest gender disparity values and (Hamilton et al., 2006; Kortenhaus & Demarest, 1993; better represented the distribution of men and women in each McCabe et al., 2011; Oskamp et al., 1996; Weitzman et al., of the countries in which the five resorts are located (Central 1972), coloring books (Fitzpatrick & McPherson, 2010), and Intelligence Agency, 2012); the explanation may be that the cereal boxes (Black et al., 2009) as well as on Disney’s ani- distribution by gender did not have to be tied to characters mated films (Davis, 2006; Faherty, 2001; Giroux, 1997; from the older classic Disney films. Guests were also more Hoerrner, 1996; Wiersma, 2000) that has shown that female likely than not to have the lowest gender disparity value by characters tended to be underrepresented relative to male resort, land, and activity, though some of those values were characters, and that this was even more exaggerated among positive and some were negative. For example, Fantasyland male and female animal characters (Black et al., 2009; (−42.8%) and Frontierland/Westernland (20.7%) continued Fitzpatrick & McPherson, 2010; Kortenhaus & Demarest, with the same pattern for images of guests that was described 1993; McCabe et al., 2011; Oskamp et al., 1996; Weitzman above for Disney characters and cast members; this may et al., 1972). Many of the above findings do not represent the indicate that lands within the Disney parks are marketed as distribution of males and females in the countries in which gendered: princesses for girls, cowboys for boys. The pattern each of the five resorts is located (Central Intelligence of the number of male-dominated images exceeding the Agency, 2012). This may reflect the symbolic annihilation number of female-dominated images did not persist for fam- of women and reinforce gender inequality (McCabe et al., ily groupings; the number of images with boys only or a 2011; Tuchman, 1978). Moreover, McCabe et al. (2011) sug- male parent only was nearly equal to the number of images gested that animal characters may be a powerful source of with girls only or a female parent, respectively. However, gender messages that are overlooked. sex-segregated pairs, namely, father-son and mother-daugh- Since we had chosen for our research the images used to ter pairs, were more prevalent than mixed-sex parent-child market Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom, the most classic combinations (H7). Perhaps this was due to attractions being Disney theme parks, this may have influenced the gender of marketed in a gendered way. those displayed in the images. Many of the early animal With regard to race of guests, we hypothesized that the characters, such as Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck, racial group representing the statistical majority in each 14 SAGE Open country in which the Disney resort was located would most Suggestions for Future Research often appear in the images based on past research on race in various media (The Cooperative Children’s Book Center, Researchers interested in the Disney resort websites could 2007; Cortese, 2008; Holtzman, 2000; Mendoza & Reese, analyze the videos or words on the webpages or even com- 2001; Pescosolido et al., 1997), including Disney films pare the websites with official Disney DVDs, posters, and (Giroux, 1997; Towbin et al., 2004). We expected those resorts brochures used to market the resorts. We selected the most located in countries with the greatest diversity would reflect traditional, classic theme park within the Disney resorts the greatest diversity but also hypothesized that those of dif- because there was such a theme park in each of the five ferent races would not be likely to be shown interacting in resorts, but other parks could be examined to see whether the “intimate egalitarian ways” (Pescosolido et al., 1997) and that patterns found here persist. For example, at Walt Disney interracial friendship groups and families would be extremely World in Florida, one could look at what is portrayed for rare or invisible. While H8 was in general supported, some Epcot or the Animal Kingdom, two other theme parks within images of guests of different races showed them enjoying an the resort. Although we chose to focus on manifest content, attraction together and some images of cast members showed using latent content one could also assess gender perfor- them working well together. Although it is difficult to know mance (McCabe et al., 2011), or social vulnerability and whether these constitute “intimate egalitarian relationships,” it relationships between those of the same and opposite sex showed that Disney has included those of different races in the (Faherty, 2001). same image and has not necessarily segregated them all by One could also expand an exploration of the portrayal of tables at a restaurant or cars on an attraction. gender and race to a variety of other promotional initiatives Disney has used to market its resorts or cruises over time. It would also be interesting to interview Disney executives Limitations about how and why they chose the images that appeared on There were several limitations to this research using the the websites, the extent to which they were aware of how website images of the four Disneyland parks and the Magic gender and race were portrayed, and whether the images, Kingdom as the sample for this analysis. First, the images particularly of guests, were staged or candid. Given the from the five Disney websites were collected at one point in influence of Disney suggested by a number of scholars time, namely, during the summer season. If the Disney (Giroux, 1997), including the use of the terms Disneyization Company has shows or attractions that vary by season, these (Bryman, 1999) and Disneyfication (Faherty, 2001), it would images were not a part of our sample. Second, although each be useful to study how people perceive the images on the of the webpages for the activities included words and many websites in terms of gender and racial balance and the extent also included short videos, we chose only to analyze the still to which this influences their ideas about gender and race. images that appeared on the webpages. Third, we used stan- One could also expand the research by studying the por- dard gender markers, such as figure, hair, clothing, and trayal of gender and race in images used to market theme accessories, to determine the gender of those in the images. parks such as Six Flags, Busch Gardens, or Hersheypark, or Similarly, the coding by race was based on our assessment theme parks for younger children such as Sesame Place or of visible physical characteristics, such as skin color and Dutch Wonderland. And, of course, for practitioners, it eyelid shape. Obviously, for both gender and race, we did would be interesting to know to what extent such images not know how the individuals in the images self-identified, have an impact on individuals’ willingness to visit such though how individuals appeared and would be perceived by theme parks. From a sociological perspective, because indi- viewers of the images would seem to be more important for viduals are active agents in how they consume images, it this research than self-identification. And there were some would be particularly important to learn how such images images of people that were so small or blurred that their race affect individuals’ perceptions of those who share their gen- and gender could not be determined. Fourth, we were der and race as well as those different from themselves. focused on coding the manifest content, by counting the As a powerful, multinational corporation, The Disney number of Disney characters, cast, and guests who had par- Company is in the position to potentially influence how indi- ticular characteristics; for the most part, we did not study the viduals viewing their websites see gender and race. At the images for latent content, such as the ways in which Disney very least, this study reveals the choices that marketing exec- characters, cast, and guests were seen interacting. Finally, utives have made about the images used to market the although we can report the findings regarding gender and Disneyland parks and the Magic Kingdom. Rudy et al. race of those in the images, we do not know who visits the (2010) suggested that studying such outcomes is an impor- websites, the extent to which visitors to the websites are tant reason for doing content analysis. Those visiting the attentive to the gender and race of those in the images, or the Disneyland parks and the Magic Kingdom websites would impact of gender and racial balance in the images on either see that overall, images of males outnumber those of females, their desire to visit a Disney resort or, more importantly, though this is somewhat less true of guests. The images of ideas about gender and race. those of various races displayed for some resorts reflected Auster and Michaud 15 the degree of diversity of the population in the country in School of Education, Madison. Retrieved from http://www.edu which the resorts were located, while other resorts did not. cation.wisc.edu/ccbc/books/pcstats.asp Cast members of different races were sometimes shown Cortese, A. J. (2008). Provocateur: Images of women and minori- working together, and guests of different races were some- ties in advertising. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. times shown interacting together. But, other images showed Davis, A. M. (2006). Good girls and wicked witches: Women in them carefully segregated by table or rollercoaster car. Disney’s feature animation. Eastleigh, UK: John Libbey. Advertising and film are two of many important cultural Do Rozario, R. (2004). The princess and the Magic Kingdom: mirrors (Cortese, 2008; Davis, 2006). Yet, it seems that even Beyond nostalgia, the function of the Disney princess. Women’s in the present and despite Disney’s lack of realistic represen- Studies in Communication, 27, 34-59. tation of some categories of individuals, the fascination with England, D. E., Descartes, L., & Collier-Meek, M. A. (2011). Gender classic Disney continues. Although the prerogative to do so role portrayal and the Disney princesses. Sex Roles, 64, 555-567. may not be there, Disney could promote a more equitable Faherty, V. E. (2001). Is the mouse sensitive? A study of race, gen- representation of those of different genders and races in the der, and social vulnerability in Disney animated films. Studies images on their websites; this might contribute positively to in Media & Information Literacy Education, 1, 1-8. individuals’ attitudes about gender and race. In addition, as Fitzpatrick, M. J., & McPherson, B. J. (2010). Coloring within the families plan their quintessential vacation, it might expand lines: Gender stereotypes in contemporary coloring books. Sex the repertoire of recreational activities that individuals feel is Roles, 62, 127-137. appropriate for them if they see someone like themselves in Gillam, K., & Wooden, S. (2008). Post-princess models of gender: the images of the many different activities and lands. That The new man in Disney/Pixar. Journal of Popular Film & Tele- way, when viewers hear American celebrities say, “I’m going vision, 36, 2-8. to Disney World!” they will know, regardless of their gender Giroux, H. A. (1997). Are Disney movies good for your kids? In or race, that all of Disney is a place for vacationers seeking S. R. Steinberg & J. L. Kincheloe (Eds.), Kinderculture: The fantasy-filled days of fun. corporate construction of childhood (pp. 53-67). Boulder, CO: Westview. Declaration of Conflicting Interests Hamilton, M. C., Anderson, D., Broaddus, M., & Young, K. (2006). The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with Gender stereotyping and under-representation of female char- respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this acters in 200 popular children’s picture books: A twenty-first article. century update. Sex Roles, 55, 757-765. Hoerrner, K. L. (1996). Gender roles in Disney films: Analyzing Funding behaviors from Snow White to Simba. Women Studies in Com- The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support munication, 19, 213-228. for the research and/or authorship of this article: Support for this Holtzman, L. (2000). Media messages: What film, television, and project was provided by the Franklin & Marshall College Faculty popular music teach us about race, class, gender, and sexual Research/Professional Development Fund as well as the Franklin orientation. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe. & Marshall College Office of College Grants Resource Fund. Hurley, D. L. (2005). Seeing White: Children of color and the Disney fairy tale princess. Journal of Negro Education, 74, 221-232. References Kern-Foxworth, M. (1994). Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, and Rastus: Auster, C. J., & Mansbach, C. S. (2012). The gender marketing of Blacks in advertising, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. West- toys: An analysis of color and type of toy on the Disney store port, CT: Greenwood. website. Sex Roles, 67, 375-388. Kortenhaus, C. M., & Demarest, J. (1993). Gender role stereotyp- Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory of mass communica- ing in children’s literature: An update. Sex Roles, 28, 219-232. tion. Media Psychology, 3, 265-299. Lainsbury, A. (2000). Once upon an American dream: The story of Bell, E., Haas, L., & Sells, L. (1995). From mouse to mermaid: Euro Disneyland. Lawrence: University of Kansas. The politics of film, gender, and culture. Bloomington: Indiana Larrick, N. (1965, September 11). The all-White world of children’s University Press. books. The Saturday Review, pp. 63-65, 84-85. Black, K. A., Marola, J. A., Littman, A. I., Chrisler, J. C., & Neace, Lombard, M., Snyder-Duch, J., & Bracken, C. C. (2010). Inter- W. P. (2009). Gender and form of cereal box characters: Differ- coder reliability: Practical resources for assessing and report- ent medium, same disparity. Sex Roles, 60, 882-889. ing intercoder reliability in content analysis research projects. Bryman, A. (1999). The Disneyization of society. Sociological Retrieved from http://matthewlombard.com/reliability/ Review, 47, 25-47. Marling, K. A. (1997). Designing Disney theme parks: The archi- Central Intelligence Agency. (2012). The World Factbook. tecture of reassurance. Paris, France: Flammarion. Retrieved from https:/www.cia.gov/library/publications/the- McCabe, J., Fairchild, E., Grauerholz, L., Pescosolido, B., & Tope, world-factbook/index.html D. (2011). Gender in twentieth-century children’s books: Pat- The Cooperative Children’s Book Center. (2007). Children’s books terns of disparity in titles and central characters. Gender & by and about people of color. University of Wisconsin–Madison, Society, 25, 197-226. 16 SAGE Open Mendoza, J., & Reese, D. (2001). Examining multicultural J. Benet (Eds.), Health and home: Images of women in the mass picture books for the early childhood classroom: Possibili- media (pp. 3-38). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ties and pitfalls. Early Childhood Research & Practice, 3, U.S. Census Bureau. (2012). Statistical abstract of the United 155-169. States. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. Mo, W., & Shen, W. (2000). A mean wink at authenticity: Chinese The Walt Disney Company. (2010a). Retrieved from http://corpo images in Disney’s Mulan. New Advocate, 13, 129-142. rate.disney.go.com/corporate/overview.html Oskamp, S., Kaufman, K., & Wolterbeek, L. (1996). Gender role The Walt Disney Company. (2010b). Retrieved from http://disney portrayals in preschool picture books. Journal of Social Behav- land.disney.go.com/; http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/; http:// ior and Personality, 11, 27-30. park.hongkongdisneyland.com/hkdl/en_US/home/home?name Pescosolido, B. A., Grauerholz, E., & Milkie, M. A. (1997). Culture =HomePage; http://www.disneylandparis.com/; http://www and conflict: The portrayal of Blacks in U.S. children’s picture .tokyodisneyresort.co.jp/index_e.html books through the mid- and late-twentieth century. American The Walt Disney Company. (2011). Retrieved from http://thewalt- Sociological Review, 62, 443-464. disneycompany.com/sites/default/files/reports/q4-fy11-earn- Pew Research Center. (2010). Attention shoppers: Online product ings.pdf research [Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Watts, S. (1997). The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the Ameri- Project]. Retrieved from http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1747/e- can way of life. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. shopping-researched-product-service-online Weitzman, L. J., Eifler, D., Hokada, E., & Ross, C. (1972). Sex-role Pewewardy, C. (1996). The Pocahontas paradox: A cautionary tale socialization in picture books for preschool children. American for educators. Journal of Navajo Education, 14, 20-25. Journal of Sociology, 77, 1125-1150. Pinsky, M. I. (2004). The Gospel according to Disney: Faith, trust, Wiersma, B. A. (2000). The gendered world of Disney: A content and pixie dust. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox. analysis of gender themes in full-length animated Disney fea- Rudy, R. M., Popova, L., & Linz, D. G. (2010). The context of ture films. Unpublished dissertation, South Dakota State Uni- current content analysis of gender roles: An introduction to a versity, Brookings. special issue. Sex Roles, 62, 705-720. Bios Schor, J. B. (2004). Born to buy: The commercialized child and the new consumer culture. New York, NY: Scribner. Carol J. Auster is a professor of sociology at Franklin & Marshall Steinberg, S. R., & Kincheloe, J. L., (Eds.). (1997). Kindercul- College. Her research interests include women who make nontradi- ture: The corporate construction of childhood. Boulder, CO: tional occupational and recreational choices for their gender. She Westview. also recently coauthored an article on the gender marketing of Towbin, M. A., Haddock, S. A., Zimmerman, T. S., Lund, L. K., & Disney toys. Tanner, L. R. (2004). Images of gender, race, age, and sexual orientation in Disney feature-length animated films. Journal of Margaret A. Michaud graduated from Franklin & Marshall Feminist Family Therapy, 15, 19-44. College in 2012 with a joint major in sociology and women and Tuchman, G. (1978). Introduction: The symbolic annihilation of gender studies. She has a long-standing interest in Disney and is women by the mass media. In G. Tuchman, A. K. Daniels, & pursuing a career in marketing and research. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png SAGE Open SAGE

The Internet Marketing of Disney Theme Parks: An Analysis of Gender and Race

SAGE Open , Volume 3 (1): 1 – Mar 14, 2013

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze the portrayal of gender and race in the images on the official Disney websites used to market five theme parks: the Disneyland Parks in California, Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, and the Magic Kingdom in Florida. This is important because of the growth of e-commerce, Disney’s global influence, and the potential impact on those who view the images. The 452 images that had Disney human characters, human-like characters, animals, cast members, or guests were coded for gender. The main gender hypothesis, that the percentage of male-dominated images would exceed the percentage of female-dominated images, was tested using gender disparity values, which measured the gap between the percentage of male-dominated and female-dominated images. The hypothesis tended to be supported overall, and for most of the resorts (e.g., Florida), lands (e.g., Adventureland), and activities (attractions, entertainment, dining) for human characters, human-like characters, animals, and cast members, but not for guests. Furthermore, the hypotheses that gender disparity values would be highest for images of animals and lowest for images of guests was supported for all five resorts, six of eight lands, and all three activities. Additional analysis also revealed the preponderance of same-sex pairings in parent–child combinations in the images. With regard to race, while the images of some theme parks displayed more racial diversity among their guests than others, in some images, individuals of different races were shown interacting whereas in others they were not. Explanations for these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed. Keywords Disney, gender, race, theme park, Internet marketing “I’m going to Disney World!” Over the past 25 years, a vari- the purpose of this research was to examine and compare how ety of American athletes and celebrities have given this gender and race were portrayed in the still images of the attrac- response when asked, “What’s next?” shortly after their tions, entertainment, and dining establishments on the official championship games or award-winning performances. Of Disney websites devoted to the most recognizable theme parks course, this advertising campaign was designed to encourage within each of Disney’s five resorts, namely, the Disneyland children and families to take the quintessential family vaca- Parks in California, Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, and their tion to one of the Disney resorts. For years, Disney has pro- equivalent in Florida, the Magic Kingdom. moted such visits through television advertisements as well This study makes a number of contributions to the exist- as with travel packets full of colorful brochures mailed ing scholarly literature. First, this research analyzes images directly to prospective vacationers or provided to them by used by The Walt Disney Company, a company with a pow- travel agents. These travel packets included pictures, but as a erful influence on consumer culture that Giroux (1997) result of the expansion and accessibility of the Internet, The described as penetrating “every aspect of social life” (p. 54) Walt Disney Company has increasingly turned to marketing and Schor (2004) described as an “architect of consumer cul- these vacation locations by developing an elaborate web ture” (p. 9). Bryman (1999) perceived the influence of presence. The five Disney resort websites have the potential Disney to be so wide-reaching that he coined the term to reach many more prospective visitors than the travel pack- Disneyization to describe the ways in which Disney princi- ets of the past, and these websites provide hundreds of ples continue to infiltrate an increasing number of aspects of images of the theme parks in California, Florida, Paris, Hong Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA, USA Kong, and Tokyo (The Walt Disney Company, 2010b). While previous studies of the Disney’s portrayal of gender Corresponding Author: and race have predominantly focused on film, and content Carol J. Auster, Department of Sociology, Franklin & Marshall College, Box analyses of the gender and race of characters associated with 3003, Lancaster, PA 17604-3003, USA. children’s products have tended to focus on children’s books, Email: causter@fandm.edu 2 SAGE Open society, and Faherty (2001) used Disneyfication to refer to those on television and movie screens, video game screens, this same phenomenon. This very successful, multinational and computer screens. Yet, such images may not reflect the corporation reported total revenues of 40.9 billion dollars for reality of the distribution of individuals by sex or race (Rudy, 2011 of which 11.8 billion came from its resorts (The Walt Popova, & Linz, 2010). These images may then affect how Disney Company, 2011). Thus, it is important to study individuals think about themselves and also shape their beliefs images about these resorts put forth by a company with such about and attitudes toward those of a variety of categories of a wide-reaching impact (Faherty, 2001) and influence on individuals, including those of other races (Cortese, 2008; consumer culture. Holtzman, 2000; Kern-Foxworth, 1994; Mendoza & Reese, Second, the Internet is a relatively recent form of con- 2001). Regardless of the impact of such images on their view- sumer marketing that is skyrocketing in popularity (Pew ers, both gender (Holtzman, 2000) and racial representations Research Center, 2010). Consequently, it is useful to examine in the images are “reflections of contemporary social relations the extent to which the results of this study of images associ- and power structure” (Cortese, 2008, p. 91). Giroux (1997) ated with e-commerce replicate the findings regarding past further believed that “[Disney] films appear to inspire at least studies of Disney regarding gender (Bell, Haas, & Sells, as much cultural authority and legitimacy for teaching spe- 1995; Davis 2006; Do Rozario, 2004; England, Descartes, & cific roles, values, and ideals as do the more traditional sites Collier-Meek, 2011; Faherty, 2001; Giroux 1997; Wiersma, of learning” (p. 53). As a result of the potential impact of 2000) and race (Faherty, 2001; Giroux, 1997; Hurley, 2005; various forms of media, Rudy et al. (2010) suggested that the Mo & Shen, 2000; Pewewardy, 1996; Pinsky, 2004; Towbin, goals for conducting a content analysis can include examining Haddock, Zimmerman, Lund, & Tanner, 2004) as well as the the extent to which the media accurately presents reality as findings of studies of children’s literature regarding gender well as the impact that producers have on the content of their (Hamilton, Anderson, Broaddus, & Young, 2006; Kortenhaus media. This provides further support for our study of the por- & Demarest, 1993; McCabe, Fairchild, Grauerholz, trayal of gender and race in the images associated with the Pescosolido, & Tope, 2011; Oskamp, Kaufman, & Wolter- marketing of Disney theme parks. beek, 1996; Weitzman, Eifler, Hokada, & Ross, 1972) and race (The Cooperative Children’s Book Center, 2007; Larrick, Portrayal of Gender 1965; Mendoza & Reese, 2001; Pescosolido, Grauerholz, & Milkie, 1997). Researchers have studied the representation of males and Third, while most studies of various aspects of Disney females in a wide variety of venues, including those venues have been historical, narrative, or used qualitative data, that include children as their audience. One of the most well- Faherty (2001) suggested that quantitative studies of various known early studies is that of Weitzman et al. (1972) in aspects of Disney would be a welcome addition to these which they analyzed books written for children. They con- already existing predominantly qualitative studies. While cluded that, “Most children’s books are about boys, men, researchers have made many useful contributions to the lit- and male animals” (p. 1128). When they looked at 284 illus- erature with these qualitative works, quantitative works trations, they found a ratio of 11:1 for pictures of males would provide needed breadth. Consequently, our quantita- compared with females and a ratio of 95:1 for the ratio of tive study helps fill this gap. male animals to female animals. In the 1990s, Kortenhaus Finally, it is important to study the images on the websites and Demarest (1993) used 150 more recent picture books of the five Disney theme parks because they are both a set of and found there were still significantly fewer female charac- images and a venue that have been previously overlooked by ters than male characters though the percentage of female researchers studying Disney or more generally the marketing characters had increased over time. Again, the ratio of male of popular culture through this form of media. The portrayal animal characters to female animal characters was more of gender and race in the images not only reflects the deci- unbalanced than that of human characters. Oskamp et al. sions of marketing executives, but these images may also (1996) looked at preschool picture books published some- shape individuals’ perceptions of gender and race regardless what later and found that 43.7% of human characters were of whether they reflect the reality of the demographics of the female, the most balanced yet. However, 84% of personified population or not. animals were male and 16% were female. The findings of Hamilton et al. (2006) again showed the predominance of male over females in pictures as well as among title charac- Literature Review ters, main characters, and overall characters in 200 popular Although much of childhood socialization occurs as the result children’s picture books. The most recent and most compre- of interaction with other people, media viewed by individuals hensive study of 20th-century children’s books examined the also shapes their perceptions of the world around them gender ratio of male and female central characters and the (Bandura, 2001; Steinberg & Kincheloe, 1997). Children titles of 5,618 children’s books (McCabe et al., 2011). learn about the social construction of reality from many Similar to earlier studies, males were more likely than sources, including images that appear in books as well as females to be included in the titles of these books, boys Auster and Michaud 3 appeared more often than girls as central characters, and the Nevertheless, Wiersma’s (2000) comprehensive, longitu- disparities were even greater for the presence of male and dinal study of Disney’s animated films revealed patterns pre- female animals as central characters. Although the gender viously found in children’s books and other venues, namely disparity persisted in every subgroup of books, there was that males continue to outnumber females. Here, using cal- some variation in the degree of disparity by historical period culations based on her raw data, we found that among the and book series (e.g., Golden books, Caldecott Award win- 282 human and animal characters in 16 films, 71% were ners). Using Tuchman’s (1978) notion of “symbolic annihi- male and 29% were female, and in only one film did females lation,” McCabe et al. (2011) suggested that the outnumber males. In addition, most of the films displayed underrepresentation of female human and animal characters narrowly defined gender roles with regard to physical reflects society’s underlying gender inequalities. appearance, activities, power, personality traits, and sexual- A recent analysis of another source of images, cereal ity (Wiersma, 2000). boxes, revealed that 72% of characters pictured were male In short, female human characters tended to be underrep- while only 28% were female (Black, Marola, Littman, resented relative to male human characters, and this was Chrisler, & Neace, 2009). And as before, the gender differ- even more exaggerated among male and female animal char- ence was more exaggerated among images of animals, of acters. For the most part, these patterns were not only evi- which 90% were male and 10% were female (Black et al., dent in children’s literature, coloring books, and on cereal 2009). Most recently, a study of coloring books displayed boxes, but also in Disney’s animated films. patterns similar to these other forms of media with regard to animals; 82% of the animals depicted in the color books Portrayal of Race were male and 18% were female (Fitzpatrick & McPherson, 2010). However, of characters that were human, 70% were Similar to the studies of the portrayal of gender, a number of female and 30% were male, which was different from some studies have evaluated the portrayal of race using samples of of the findings of studies described above. children’s books. Larrick’s (1965) study of more than 5,000 These general patterns were also born out by specific children’s books from the early 1960s showed that less than studies of media, mostly films, produced by Disney. For 1% made any reference to contemporary African Americans, example, Hoerrner’s (1996) calculations of the demograph- drawing attention to the invisibility of people of color in ics of Disney’s animated films led her to describe them as “a children’s books. Pescosolido et al. (1997) also analyzed world dominated by both human and animal male charac- children’s books and found that the extent to which Blacks ters” (p. 219). Faherty’s (2001) quantitative study of 19 were included in children’s books varied by the extent of Disney films revealed that there were more than twice as racial strife in wider society. More specifically, Blacks were many male characters as female characters. Davis (2006) the least visible during times of racial conflict and challenge. was somewhat more circumspect, acknowledging that the Despite these shifts over time, plotlines and pictures rarely narrowly defined gender roles portrayed in the films were displayed interracial relationships, including childhood and likely to reflect the historical context and era in which they adult friendships, and those that existed were not usually were produced. Do Rozario (2004) further suggested that the central to the plotline. Moreover, Whites and Blacks did not princesses of the early animated films were then carried over typically appear on the same page, and even when they did, into the Magic Kingdom and “perpetuate a timelessness they did not usually “interact in intimate egalitarian ways” detached from social progress” (p. 36), though she acknowl- (Pescosolido et al., 1997, p. 460). edged that the princess characters in some later films, includ- The Cooperative Children’s Book Center (2007) of the ing The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Pocahontas, take on a School of Education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison larger role in making their own choices. Nevertheless, has been collecting data about “trade books typically avail- Giroux’s (1997) analysis indicated that even in films released able for sale to public schools and public libraries.” Even in 1980s and 1990s, the portrayal of female characters was based on the approximately 3,000 books they received in quite traditional, though Pinsky (2004) described more 2007, less than 5% were about African/African Americans recent films as having a “growing assertiveness with which and 2% were about Latinos. Asians were found in another 2% they [Disney films] portray girls and young women” (p. of books, and American Indians were found in less than 1% 264). Towbin et al. (2004) similarly found that while some of the books. Other researchers have also pointed to the invis- films portrayed men and women in narrowly defined roles, ibility of people of color in picture books (Mendoza & Reese, other more recent films included courageous female charac- 2001) as well as in the entertainment media more generally ters and emotionally sensitive male characters though many (Holtzman, 2000). Cortese (2008) reported that only 3% of contained contradictory messages about the value of such people in national advertisements as late as 1990 were Black; traits. Gillam and Wooden (2008) have also pointed to the however, he also noted that more recently, multicultural more nurturing and caring “new man” unveiled in recent advertisements have become increasingly popular as compa- Disney/Pixar films. nies try to be sensitive to people of all races and ethnicities in 4 SAGE Open the global village and want to create markets for their prod- of this article, rather than use the full names of each resort, ucts among these many groups. the two resorts in the United States will be referred to by the With regard to portrayal of people of various races by state in which they are located, namely, California and Disney, Giroux (1997), in his review of Disney films, found Florida, and the remaining three resorts will be referred to by that the early films, in particular, presented denigrating city, namely, Tokyo, Paris, and Hong Kong. images of people of color. In the narratives, Hurley (2005) While some authors have written about the planning, further noted the absence of people of color, particularly design, and architecture of the resorts (Marling, 1997), oth- among the Disney princesses. Using the raw data provided ers have focused more on the biography of Walt Disney and by Faherty’s (2001) quantitative study of 19 Disney films, how that was intertwined with the business of Disney (Watts, we found that of the 195 characters that he coded by race, 1997). Most authors have written using their academic 81.5% of the characters were of European or European expertise, but others have brought their own perspective as a American descent, while characters coded as African Disney employee (Lainsbury, 2000) to their work. Regardless American, American Indian, Arabic, Asian, or Hispanic of these authors’ perspectives, all of them acknowledge the together comprised only 18.5% of the characters. Others powerful influence of The Walt Disney Company on con- have observed that in many films, marginalized groups were sumer culture. In addition to the Disney resorts, the company portrayed negatively, stereotypically, or often not at all (Bell has infiltrated many different kinds of markets with Walt et al., 1995; Mo & Shen, 2000; Pewewardy, 1996; Pinsky, Disney Studios, Disney Channels, ABC Television Network, 2004; Towbin et al., 2004), though Pinsky (2004) acknowl- ESPN, and Disney Consumer Products, including toys, edged that some of the portrayals merely reflected the his- apparel, home décor, electronics, food, books, and maga- torical context and era in which they were produced. Similar zines (The Walt Disney Company, 2010a). Giroux (1997) to Pescosolido et al.’s (1997) findings about books, Towbin explained that children, in particular, “experience Disney’s et al. (2004) found Disney films tended to display friend- cultural influence through a maze of representations and ships between characters who were similar; this suggests that products” (p. 54). According to Davis (2006), “Disney friendships between those of different races might not fit became an inseparable aspect of American popular culture . . . Disney’s portrayal. Cortese (2008) further believed that lim- an integral part of the American social fabric” (p. 222). If iting images of interethnic contact creates even more social Disney films are “vehicles of cultural production” (Bell distance between majority and minority groups. Finally, et al., 1995, p. 7), then the resorts so tightly associated with Pescosolido et al. (1997) suggested that the notion of sym- such films can certainly be thought of in the same vein. bolic annihilation that Tuchman (1978) applied to gender can be extended to race; here, the invisibility of people of Hypotheses color in images symbolically reflects racial inequality. Compared with females, people of color have been much For several decades, social scientists have been studying the less visible in many forms of media, including Disney narra- portrayal of gender and race in a variety of forms of media tives and films, though both females and people of color for children, including media produced by Disney. This have been portrayed in stereotypical and often denigrating study examines the following categories: (a) Disney human ways. However, unlike the female characters in Disney sto- characters, (b) Disney human-like characters, (c) Disney ries who were often intimately involved with males as family animal characters, (d) Disney cast members, and (e) guests members, friends, and romantic partners, Whites and people at the Disney resorts. For our purposes, Disney human char- of color were not often shown engaged with one another in acters included Aladdin, Belle, Prince Charming, Snow these types of intimate relationships. White, and many others; some were actual people dressed in costume, while others were animatrons of human characters or life-size two-dimensional cutouts. Human-like characters The Walt Disney Company included C-3PO from Star Wars, Woody from Toy Story, and In 1923, Walt Disney and his brother Roy founded the the talking playing cards from Alice in Wonderland. These Disney Brothers Studio for the purpose of producing and appeared human-like in that they typically had a face, arms, distributing cartoons and releasing the “Alice Comedies” and legs, but their characters in a Disney film did not have (Davis, 2006, p. 73). In 1928, Mickey Mouse made his pub- flesh but were made, for example, of plastic, wood, or metal, lic debut in a short film, “Plane Crazy” (Davis, 2006, pp. or they appeared only in a cartoon-like form. Animal char- 26-27). By 1955, Disneyland, the first of five Disney resorts, acters were those that were fully animals, such as Mickey opened in Anaheim, California, followed by the opening of Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Donald Duck, even if they were the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Orlando, clothed. Although Disney uses the term cast member to refer Florida, in 1971. Tokyo Disney Resort opened in 1983, and to all employees, we used cast member to refer only to Disneyland Paris, formerly Euro Disney, opened in 1992 Disney employees who were not a specific character as (Marling, 1997). Hong Kong Disneyland opened in 2005, 50 defined above. This would include, for example, waitresses, years after the opening of the first resort. Throughout the rest ride operators, and dancers in shows. Finally, guests, a Auster and Michaud 5 Disney term, was used to refer to those who are visitors at a As a result of the findings of past studies, we developed Disney resort. the following hypotheses regarding gender: Much of our study focused on the gender of those in the images on the five Disney websites used to market the theme Hypothesis 1 (H1): Overall, there will be more male- parks in California, Florida, Hong Kong, Paris, and Tokyo dominated images than females-dominated images (The Walt Disney Company, 2010b) and the extent to which for each of the following categories: human charac- they would replicate the findings of previous studies, includ- ters, human-like characters, cast members, animals, ing those of children’s literature and Disney films. Previous and guests. Consequently, the gender disparity val- studies indicated that there were more male than female ues will be positive for all five of these categories. characters in a variety of forms of children’s literature Hypothesis 2 (H2): Overall, the gender disparity value (Hamilton et al., 2006; Kortenhaus & Demarest, 1993; will be highest for animals. McCabe et al., 2011; Oskamp et al., 1996; Weitzman et al., Hypothesis 3 (H3): Overall, the gender disparity value 1972) as well as in the images on cereal boxes (Black et al., will be lowest for guests. 2009) and in coloring books (Fitzpatrick & McPherson, Hypothesis 4 (H4): For each of the a) resorts (Cali- 2010). Some studies of Disney animated films revealed this fornia, Florida, Hong Kong, Paris, Tokyo), b) lands same pattern (Davis, 2006; Faherty, 2001; Giroux, 1997; (e.g., Fantasyland, Adventureland), and c) activities Hoerrner, 1996; Wiersma 2000). In many of these studies, (attractions, entertainment, dining), there will be the disparity between males and females was even greater more male-dominated images than female-domi- for animal characters (Black et al., 2009; Fitzpatrick & nated images for each of the following categories: McPherson, 2010; Kortenhaus & Demarest, 1993; McCabe human characters, human-like characters, cast et al., 2011; Oskamp et al., 1996; Weitzman et al., 1972). members, animals, and guests. Consequently, the Although the findings of previous studies suggest hypoth- gender disparity values will be positive for all of eses with regard to Disney characters and cast members, these categories. none of these studies examined images of guests at Disney Hypothesis 5 (H5): For each of the a) resorts, b) lands, resorts. Davis (2006) acknowledged that images of males and c) activities, the gender disparity values will be and females portrayed in films likely reflected the historical highest for animals. era in which they were produced. As seen above, the images Hypothesis 6 (H6): For each of the a) resorts, b) lands, of males have exceeded the images of females in a variety of and c) activities, the gender disparity values will be venues, but Disney marketing executives would not be tied lowest for guests. to past characters or films in their choice of the gender of Hypothesis 7 (H7): Among guests, parent-child com- guests in the images. However, because boys tend to avoid binations will be more likely to be of the same sex that which appears feminine, Schor (2004) suggested that than of the opposite sex. That is, fathers will be males must be pervasive in advertisements for items for more likely to be pictured with sons than daughters, boys, while girls are more likely to cross gender lines. and mothers will be more likely to be pictured with Similarly, Auster and Mansbach (2012) found that the Disney daughters than sons. toys marketed to both boys and girls, rather than to boys only or girls only, resembled toys for boys rather than toys for We also focused on the race of those portrayed in the girls in terms of their color. Thus, one might surmise that images. Past research pointed to the relative invisibility of even though Disney wants males and females to visit Disney people of color in American children’s books (The resorts, images of males would exceed images of females. Cooperative Children’s Book Center, 2007; Mendoza & Although past studies would generally suggest that there Reese, 2001; Pescosolido et al., 1997), and in Disney films, would be more images of male guests than female guests, people of color were portrayed negatively, stereotypically, or marketing executives could have selected images of guests not at all (Bell et al., 1995; Faherty, 2001; Hurley, 2005; Mo that reflect somewhat more gender parity. & Shen, 2000; Pewewardy, 1996; Pinsky, 2004; Towbin et To be able to compare the direction and degree of dispar- al., 2004). These findings about characters in American chil- ity across a variety of categories, we used gender disparity dren’s books and Disney films suggest that the number of values, calculated by subtracting the percentage of female- White guests displayed in the images would exceed the dominated images from the percentage of male-dominated number of people of color displayed in the images, even images for each category. A positive value indicated that the beyond the proportion of people of color in the population. percentage of male-dominated images exceeded the percent- Although this seemed a reasonable prediction for the age of female-dominated images, a negative value indicated California, Florida, and Paris resorts, it seemed to be an that the percentage of female-dominated images exceeded illogical prediction for the Hong Kong and Tokyo resorts the number of male-dominated images, and a zero indicated because their populations are largely Asian, and Disney that the percentage of male-dominated images and the per- needs to be sure to market its resorts to potential visitors in centage of female-dominated images were equal. the country in which the resort is located. 6 SAGE Open Hypothesis 8 (H8): Although the racial diversity of of the webpages for entertainment sites (M = 2.09 images) guests will vary by resort and reflect the existence and more than 90% of webpages for dining establishments of diverse racial groups in that country’s popula- (M = 1.85) had only two images, this was true for about 50% tion, the dominant racial group in the country of the of webpages for attractions (M = 4.14 images). Since screen location of the resort will be most frequent in the shots were taken of all 1,027 images for attractions, enter- images, and interracial friendship groups and fami- tainment, and dining that appeared on the websites for the lies will be extremely rare or invisible. five resorts, all of the 1,027 images were initially considered for potential inclusion in analysis. We then retained all images that had human characters, human-like characters, Method animal, cast members, or guests that could be coded by gen- Sample der and excluded any images that had only a sign or an image of the attraction as well as those images in which people in a The most recognizable of Disney’s theme parks are the crowd in the background were so small that we could not Disneyland Parks in California, Paris, Tokyo, and Hong code them for gender or race. For example, the image of Kong, and their equivalent in Florida, the Magic Kingdom. “Space Mountain: Mission 2” in Paris, which showed only Some theme parks are only found in some of the resorts, the large dome-like figure that was outside of the ride, was such as the Animal Kingdom and Epcot in Florida, Disney excluded, whereas the image containing The Mad Hatter Studios in Florida and Paris, California Adventure in enjoying a ride in a giant teacup with a man and two children California, and Tokyo Disney Sea in Tokyo. Although each was retained. This yielded 452 images: 287 images of attrac- of these theme parks exists within some of the Disney tions, 95 images of entertainment, and 70 images of dining. resorts, the resorts in California, Florida, Hong Kong, Paris, Inferential statistics were not utilized in the analyses because and Tokyo all include the Disneyland Park/Magic Kingdom, the 452 images constitute a population. which also best reflects classic Disney, complete with a castle resembling the image that appears at the opening of Measures Disney films and television programs. As a result, we focused on only the four Disneyland Parks and the Magic Using the listings on the Disney website, each image was Kingdom to see how gender and race were portrayed in assigned three codes, two of which represented the location: images used to market the Disney resorts. (a) resort, such as Florida or Hong Kong; (b) land within the Each year, The Disney Company markets its resorts to theme park, such as Fantasyland or Tomorrowland; and (c) millions of people using brochures, booklets, DVDs, and type of activity, namely, attraction, entertainment, or dining. websites. We analyzed only the official English language For the 452 images in the sample, separate variables for version of the Disney websites associated with the four Disney human characters, human-like characters, animal Disneyland Parks and the Magic Kingdom. Although there characters, and cast members were created and coded on the were words on all of these websites, we analyzed only the basis of the gender of those in the image, including catego- still images to see whom, by gender and race, The Disney ries such as single male or two females and a male. When Company marketing executives chose for their potential there were four or more discernible characters or cast mem- guests to see. Whether potential guests are thrill seekers or bers in a group, we coded the group as all-male, mostly fans of their favorite cartoon mouse, guests must ride, male, all-female, mostly female, or gender balanced. The watch, and eat to have the complete Disney experience. On gender display, including hairstyle, figure, clothing, and all five of the Disney resort websites, The Disney Company accessories, were used to determine gender. The detailed presented and we chose to use all of the images associated categories were later recoded into only five categories: (a) with three activities: (a) attractions, namely, rides, interac- all-male, which included single males, two males, and all- tive and walk-through activities, and play areas; (b) enter- male groups; (b) predominantly male, which included tainment, namely, shows and parades; and (c) dining. three-person groups with two males and one female as well Although websites for all five resorts included shopping as groups that were predominantly male; (c) gender bal- and places to stay, nearly all of the images of these were anced, which included one male and one female and bal- devoid of characters and guests to code. Moreover, places anced groups; (d) predominantly female, which included to stay, though on resort property, were not located within three-person groups with two females and one male as well the theme parks. as groups that were predominantly female; and (e) all- When the number of attractions, entertainment shows, female, which included single females, two females, and and dining establishments were added together across the all-female groups. Of the images that contained Disney five resorts, this yielded a total of 343 activities. Each activ- characters or cast members, less than 5% of the images ity was displayed on a separate webpage on the Disney web- were predominantly male and less than 5% of the images site, sometimes with multiple images to market that activity, were predominantly female. Because these percentages yielding a total of 1,027 separate images. While about 75% were so low, the five categories of images were recoded into Auster and Michaud 7 three categories for use in the analysis: (a) “male-domi- ables representing race of guests also produced high Cohen’s nated,” which included images that were all male or pre- kappa values: Whites (.96), Blacks (.95), Latinos (.95), dominantly male; (b) “gender balanced,” same as above; Asians (.96), and unidentified people of color (.95). and (c) “female-dominated,” which included images that Regardless of the race with which guests might have identi- were all female or predominantly female. fied, the coders were likely to agree on the apparent race of To accurately depict guests with regard to gender, we used guests. The kappa values may also have been high because the same categories as before, but we added additional codes of the “unidentified people of color” category that may have that would allow us to analyze family groups, such as female captured those guests who might have otherwise have cre- parent with same-sex child, male parent with two or more ated more coding discrepancies between the two coders. same-sex children, or two parents and mixed-sex children. As Although we were prepared to resolve the coding discrepan- before, we created five categories and then reduced them to cies by alternating between the two coders’ choices of codes three categories using the same criteria and method as for the (Auster & Mansbach, 2012; Lombard et al., 2010), we found Disney characters and Disney cast members. it more fruitful to discuss the details of the image and We also considered four categories of race/ethnicity, here- resolved the discrepancies using that method (Lombard et after referred to as race: White, Black, Latino, and Asian. al., 2010). These were among the categories used by previous research- ers (The Cooperative Children’s Book Center, 2007; Faherty, Results 2001). Separate variables were created for each of these four categories, and each image was coded for whether there were Human Characters, Human-Like Characters, individuals of that race in the image or not. Admittedly, by Animals, Cast Members, and Guests using such markers as skin color or eye shape, we based our judgments only on how individuals appeared; we did not Based on previous research on children’s literature and other know what actual race they might be or with what race they media, for H1 we predicted that there would be more male- identified. Nevertheless, our assumption for race and for dominated images than female-dominated images for each gender was that potential guests viewing these images in category. The gender disparity values calculated for each anticipation of a trip to Disney would be likely to classify category are displayed in the first column of numbers in individuals in the same way. We added a fifth category of Table 1. The positive gender disparity values indicated that race, unidentifiable people of color, for those individuals H1 was supported for animals (73.0%), human-like charac- who appeared to be people of color, but whose race was not ters (23.3%), human characters (18.6%), and cast members easily discernible. (8.0%), but this hypothesis was not supported for guests (−4.1%) because the gender disparity value was negative. With the gender disparity values displayed in descending Reliability order, it is evident that H2, that the gender disparity value It was not necessary to measure the intercoder reliability of would be highest for animals (73.0%), and H3, that the gen- resort, land, or activity because these were determined by der disparity value would be lowest for guests (−4.1%), were the listings on the Disney websites and required no judgment supported. In addition, it is notable that there were more by us. Both researchers coded the 452 images. To evaluate gender-balanced images (27.3%) for guests than for any the intercoder reliability, a systematic sample of every fourth other category. image was taken, yielding a sample of 114 or 25.2% of the sample, exceeding the minimum of 50 units or 10% of the Resorts full sample recommended by Lombard, Snyder-Duch, and Bracken (2010). Cohen’s kappa was then used as the index To test H4a, H5a, and H6a, all of the gender disparity values of intercoder reliability. The three-category version of the for human characters, human-like characters, animals, cast gender-balance variable (i.e., male-dominated image, members, and guests for each of the five resorts were calcu- female-dominated image, and gender-balanced image) was lated, yielding the 25 gender disparity values that appear in used in the calculation of Cohen’s kappa because that was the first column of numbers in Table 2. These values were the version of the variable used in the analyses. The Cohen’s arranged in descending order by resort. H4a, which pre- kappa values were very high for the gender coding of all of dicted that the percentage of male-dominated images would the categories: human characters (.96), human-like charac- exceed the percentage of female-dominated images, was ters (.93), animals (.90), cast members (.95), and guests partially supported for resorts. This hypothesis was sup- (.95). The ease with which the gender of individual charac- ported for 17 of the 25 categories; that is, 68.0% of the ters and guests could be determined using manifest content gender disparity values that appear in the first column of may be the result of Disney’s choice to display males and numbers were positive. Hypothesis 4a was not supported by females easily identified by traditional markers of gender, the 5 gender disparity values equal to 0 or the remaining 3 including clothing, accessories, and hairstyle. The five vari- gender disparity values that were negative. 8 SAGE Open Table 1. Images of Human Characters, Human-Like Characters, Animals, Cast Members, and Guests by Gender Percentage Gender disparity Male-dominated Female-dominated Gender-balanced Category value images images images n Animals 73.0 82.9 9.9 7.2 111 Human-like characters 23.3 55.4 32.1 12.5 56 Human characters 18.6 52.6 34.0 13.4 97 Cast members 8.0 46.6 38.6 14.8 88 Guests −4.1 34.1 38.2 27.6 217 The combined percentage of male-dominated, female-dominated, and balanced images displayed in each row equals 100% of the n for that row. The gender disparity value, measured in percentage, was calculated by subtracting the percentage of female-dominated images from the percentage of male-dominated images. Table 2. Images of Human Characters, Human-Like Characters, Animals, Cast Members, and Guests by Gender and Resort Percentage Gender disparity Male-dominated Female-dominated Gender-balanced Resort Category value images images images n California Animals 53.9 71.8 17.9 10.3 39 Cast members 38.5 66.7 28.2 5.1 39 Human 19.5 56.5 37.0 6.5 46 Human-like 0.0 42.9 42.9 14.3 28 Guests −8.1 31.9 40.0 28.1 135 Florida Animals 89.7 93.1 3.4 3.4 29 Cast members 60.0 60.0 0.0 40.0 5 Human 4.0 44.0 40.0 16.0 25 Human-like 0.0 42.9 42.9 14.3 7 Guests −12.5 33.3 45.8 20.8 24 Hong Kong Animals 77.8 88.9 11.1 0.0 9 Human-like 60.0 80.0 20.0 0.0 5 Cast members 27.3 45.5 18.2 36.4 11 Human 0.0 40.0 40.0 20.0 5 Guests 0.0 28.6 28.6 42.9 14 Paris Animals 87.5 87.5 0.0 12.5 16 Human-like 63.6 81.8 18.2 0.0 11 Human 50.0 62.5 12.5 25.0 16 Guests 8.3 44.4 36.1 19.4 36 Cast members 0.0 50.0 50.0 0.0 10 Tokyo Animals 73.7 84.2 10.5 5.3 19 Human-like 66.7 66.7 0.0 33.3 6 Human 16.7 50.0 33.3 16.7 6 Guests 9.1 36.4 27.3 36.4 11 Cast members −60.9 8.7 69.6 21.7 23 The combined percentage of male-dominated, female-dominated, and balanced images displayed in each row equals 100% of the n for that row. The gender disparity value, measured in percentage, was calculated by subtracting the percentage of female-dominated images from the percentage of male-dominated images. More specifically, H4a was supported by the gender dis- gender disparity values for Hong Kong (66.0%), Paris parity values for animals for all five resorts and for human (63.6%), and Tokyo (66.7%) offered support for the hypoth- characters for four of five resorts but not for Hong Kong esis; however, for California and Florida, the gender disparity (0.0%). For images of human-like characters, the positive value was 0. For cast members, the gender disparity values Auster and Michaud 9 supported H4a for California (38.5%), Florida (60.0%), and guests, for which the gender disparity values were negative Hong Kong (27.3%), but not for Paris (0.0%) and Tokyo (−50.0% and −40.0%, respectively). For Liberty Square/New (−60.9%). For guests, the gender disparity values supported Orleans Square, with waterfront scenes of early America, H4a for Paris (8.3%) and Tokyo (9.1%), but not for California three of the four eligible categories did not support the (−8.1%), Florida (−12.5%), and Hong Kong (0.0%) hypothesis; the gender disparity values for human-like char- Hypothesis 5a, which predicted that the gender disparity acters (−14.2%) and guests (−47.0%) were negative and the values would be highest for animals, was supported by each gender disparity was 0.0% for animals because all five images of the five resorts: California (53.9%), Florida (89.7%), were gender balanced. Hong Kong (77.8%), Paris (87.5%), and Tokyo (73.7%). Fantasyland, a land of magic that reflects Disney’s classic Hypothesis 6a, which predicted that the gender disparity val- animated films, was notably different from the other lands. ues would be lowest for guests, was supported for California While positive gender disparity values supported the hypoth- (−8.1%), Florida (−12.5%), and Hong Kong (0.0%). Even esis for animals (76.4%) and cast members (44.5%), the gen- when H6a was not supported for the other two resorts der disparity values were negative or near parity not only for because cast members had a gender disparity value in Paris guests (−42.8%), but also for human (−3.7) and human-like of 0.0% and an extremely low gender disparity value in (−4.8) characters, both of which had notable positive gender Tokyo (−60.9%), there was still a dramatic difference disparity values for the other seven lands. between the gender disparity values in Paris and Tokyo for Hypothesis 5b focused on the highest gender disparity val- animals (87.5% and 73.7%, respectively) compared with ues for each land. For those categories that had five images or guests (8.3% and 9.1%, respectively). In addition, relative to more, images that included animals yielded the highest gender other types of images, the highest percentage of gender-bal- disparity value for six of the eight lands, namely, Adventureland anced images was found for guests for California (28.1%), (70.0%), Critter Country (60.0%), Fantasyland (76.4%), Hong Kong (42.9%), and Tokyo (36.4%) and was ranked Frontierland/Westernland (86.6%), Main Street USA/World second for the percentage of balanced images for Florida Bazaar (65.6%), and Toontown (80.0%), a land where guests (20.8%) and Paris (19.4%). can visit the houses of Mickey Mouse and his friends. Although H5b was not supported for two lands for which the gender disparity value for animals was 0.0%, Liberty Square/ Lands New Orleans Square and Discoveryland/Tomorrowland, there The hypotheses regarding lands, H4b, H5b, and H6c, were were only 5 images of animals for each. For Discoveryland/ tested using the gender disparity values for the human char- Tomorrowland, however, the gender disparity value for acters, human-like characters, animals, cast members, and human-like characters (84.6%) far exceeded that of animals guests. All of the gender disparity values for each of the eight (60.0%), not lending support to H5b. lands were calculated, yielding 40 gender disparity values. The gender disparity values for seven of eight lands sup- The values were then arranged in descending order by land; ported H6b, the prediction that guests would have the lowest however, the 10 categories with fewer than five images, iden- gender disparity value; Adventureland was the exception tified with the superscript “d” in Table 3, were not considered with cast members having a lower disparity value (−50.0%) in the evaluation of the hypotheses. Hypothesis 4b, which than guests (28.0%). predicted that the percentage of male-dominated images would exceed the percentage of female-dominated images, Activities was supported for 22 of the 30 categories; that is, 70.0% of gender disparity values that appear in the first column of The gender disparity values were calculated for each of the numbers in Table 3 were positive. However, H4b was not three activities, namely, attractions, entertainment, and din- supported by the gender disparity value that was equal to 0 or ing, for human characters, human-like characters, animals, the remaining 7 gender disparity values that were negative. cast members, and guests. The gender disparity values were More specifically, for those categories with more than five then arranged in descending order by activity; however, the images, the gender disparity values were positive for human 2 categories with fewer than five images, identified with the characters, human-like characters, animals, cast members, superscript “c” in Table 4, were not considered in the evalu- and guests for three lands: Discoveryland/Tomorrowland, ation of the hypotheses. H4c was supported by 10 of the 13 lands focused on the future and worlds beyond; Frontierland/ categories; that is, 76.9% of gender disparity values that Westernland, lands where cowboys show guests the ways of appear in first column of numbers in Table 4 were positive. old West; and Main Street USA/World Bazaar, lands filled The remaining three gender disparity values were negative with shops that have everything Disney where visitors are for guests in images of entertainment (−15.8%) and dining greeted with scenes of the 1900s. For Adventureland, filled (−31.1%) and for cast members (−30.0) in images of dining. with exotic areas and jungle exploration, and Critter Country, Hypothesis 5c, which predicted that images with animals a land where woodland creatures can hang out or have a would have the highest gender disparity value, and H6c, which splash, the hypothesis was supported for all categories except predicted that images with guests would have the lowest 10 SAGE Open Table 3. Images of Human Characters, Human-Like Characters, Cast Members, Animals, and Guests by Gender and Land Percentage Gender disparity Male-dominated Female-dominated Gender-balanced a c Land Category value images images images n Adventureland (CFHPT) Human-like 100.0 100.0 0.0 0.0 1 Animals 70.0 80.0 10.0 10.0 10 Human 46.7 60.0 13.3 26.7 15 Guests 28.0 56.0 28.0 16.0 25 Cast members −50.0 14.3 64.3 21.4 14 Critter Country (C) Animals 60.0 60.0 0.0 40.0 5 Cast members 0.0 50.0 50.0 0.0 2 Human 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 Human-like 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 Guests −40.0 10.0 50.0 40.0 10 Discoveryland (P)/ Human-like 84.6 84.6 0.0 15.4 13 Tomorrowland (CFHT) Animals 60.0 80.0 20.0 0.0 5 Human 50.0 70.0 20.0 10.0 10 Cast members 16.7 50.0 33.3 16.7 12 Guests 12.8 42.6 29.8 27.7 47 Fantasyland (CFHPT) Animals 76.4 88.2 11.8 0.0 34 Cast members 44.5 66.7 22.2 11.0 6 Human-like −3.7 40.7 44.4 14.8 27 Human −4.8 41.5 46.3 12.2 41 Guests −42.8 14.3 57.1 28.6 49 Frontierland (CFP)/ Animals 86.6 93.3 6.7 0.0 15 e d Westernland (T) Human-like 50.0 50.0 0.0 50.0 2 Cast members 44.5 66.7 22.2 11.1 18 Guests 20.7 51.7 31.0 17.2 29 Human −100.0 0.0 100.0 0.0 2 Liberty Square (F)/ Human 69.2 84.6 15.4 0.0 13 New Orleans Square (C) Animals 0.0 0.0 0.0 100.0 5 Human-like −14.2 42.9 57.1 0.0 7 Guests −47.0 5.9 52.9 41.2 17 Cast members −50.0 25.0 75.0 0.0 4 Main Street USA (CFHP)/ Animals 65.6 75.0 9.4 15.6 32 World Bazaar (T) Human-like 42.8 71.4 28.6 0.0 7 Human 35.7 57.1 21.4 21.4 14 Cast members 29.0 54.8 25.8 19.4 31 Guests 6.5 35.5 29.0 35.5 31 Toontown (CFT) Animals 80.0 90.0 10.0 0.0 10 Guests 9.1 45.5 36.4 18.2 11 Human −100.0 0.0 100.0 0.0 2 Human-like −100.0 0.0 100.0 0.0 1 Cast members −100.0 0.0 100.0 0.0 1 The resorts in which each land was found is listed in parentheses: C=California, F=Florida, H=Hong Kong, P=Paris, and T=Tokyo. The combined percent of male-dominated, female-dominated, and balanced images displayed in each row equals 100% of the n for that row. The gender disparity value, measured in percent, was calculated by subtracting the percent of female-dominated images from the percent of male-dominated images. The category was not included in the evaluation of hypotheses because n<5. The two lands listed for this category were equivalent and their images were combined for this analysis. Auster and Michaud 11 Table 4. Images of Human Characters, Human-Like Characters, Cast Members, Animals, and Guests by Gender and Activity Percentage Gender disparity Male-dominated Female-dominated Gender-balanced Activity Category value images images images n Attractions Animals 78.5 86.3 7.8 5.9 51 Cast members 55.6 77.8 22.2 0.0 18 Human 19.5 54.2 34.7 11.1 72 Human-like 15.5 51.1 35.6 13.3 45 Guests 4.5 39.1 34.6 26.3 156 Entertainment Animals 72.7 81.8 9.1 9.1 55 Human-like 50.0 70.0 20.0 10.0 10 Cast members 15.0 42.5 27.5 30.0 40 Human 4.5 40.9 36.4 22.7 22 Guests −15.8 31.6 47.4 21.1 19 Dining Human 100.0 100.0 0.0 0.0 4 Human-like 100.0 100.0 0.0 0.0 2 Animals 33.4 66.7 33.3 0.0 6 Cast members −30.0 33.3 63.3 3.3 30 Guests −31.1 17.8 48.9 33.3 45 The combined percentage of male-dominated, female-dominated, and balanced images displayed in each row equals 100% of the n for that row. The gender disparity value, measured in percentage, was calculated by subtracting the percentage of female-dominated images from the percentage of male-dominated images. The category was not included in the evaluation of hypotheses because n<5. gender disparity value for each activity, were supported for the results displayed in Table 5. Nearly two thirds of images all three activities. Despite this, the gender disparity value with a male parent only were pictured with boys (65.2%) for animals was much higher for attractions (78.5%) and rather than girls (21.8%) or both boys and girls (13.0%). entertainment (72.7%) than for dining (33.4%), and the gen- Nearly two thirds of images with a female parent only were der disparity value for guests was lowest for images of din- pictured with girls (62.5%) rather than boys (25.0%) or both ing (−31.1%) followed by entertainment (−15.8%) and girls and boys (12.5%). This sex segregation was even more attractions (4.5%). The highest percentage of gender-bal- surprising because images of male parents only (30.3%), anced images was found for guests for attractions (26.5%) female parents only (31.6%), and both a male and female and dining (33.3%) and among cast members (30.0%) for parent (38.1%) were divided relatively equally as were entertainment. images of boys only (38.2%) and girls only (39.4%). In short, there were more images of father-boy(s) combinations and mother-girl(s) combinations than mixed-sex parent- Guest Parents and Children child combinations. To test H7, that guest parents and children combinations would be more likely to be of the same sex than of the oppo- Race site sex, additional detailed coding was done for those images that appeared to be of family groupings. Family With regard to race, we predicted that the racial group rep- images included those that appeared to be, for example, a resenting the statistical majority in each country in which the mother and her daughter or a father with three children. Disney resort was located would most often appear in the Although the adults with children in these images may not images. Although logic might suggest this, H8 was also have been the parents, they will be referred to as parents in informed by research on children’s books in the United this analysis. The images were coded in a way that took into States as well as other forms of media that revealed that account the gender of any children as well as that of the par- people of color, the statistical minority in the United States, ent or parents, which were coded as male parent only, female were often invisible. Based on more specific results reported parent only, or both male/female parents. In addition, all of in the literature indicating that those of different races were the images of families were analyzed together rather than by not shown interacting in “intimate egalitarian ways” resort, land, or activity. (Pescosolido et al., 1997), we also hypothesized that inter- Hypothesis 7, concerning the likelihood of parent and racial friendship groups and families would be extremely child combinations being of the same sex, was supported by rare or invisible even if there was greater diversity in the 12 SAGE Open Table 5. Images of Guest Parents and Children by Gender California (67.9%), and Florida (41.7%), there were a higher percentage of images that had Whites than those of other Percentage racial groups. This is not surprising because Whites are the statistically dominant group in the United States (U.S. Gender of children Census Bureau, 2012, Table 6). The images of California Boys Girls Both Parent and Florida displayed more racial diversity than the other Gender of parents only only sexes total n resorts; these two resorts are also located in the United States, the country with the most racially diverse population Male parent only 65.2 21.8 13.0 30.3 23 of those considered in this analysis (U.S. Census Bureau, Female parent only 25.0 62.5 12.5 31.6 24 2012, Table 6). For example, Blacks, Latinos, and Asians Male and female 27.6 34.5 37.9 38.1 29 parents each were found in about 15% of the images for California, Total 38.2 39.4 22.4 100.0 76 and for Florida, Blacks and Asians each were included in n=29 n=30 n=17 n=76 about 30% of the images, though Latinos (4.2%) were nota- bly underrepresented. For Paris, 91.2% of images had The combined percentage of images of boys only, girls only, and both Whites and 8.8% had Blacks, but there was no basis for sexes displayed in each row equals 100% of the n for that row. The combined percentage of images of male parent only, female parent comparison because the French government does not collect only, and male and female parents in the parent total column equals 100% data on race and ethnicity. of n = 76. Another way we looked at the race of the guests was how they were placed in the images, more specifically the extent to which they seemed to “interact in egalitarian ways” Table 6. Race of Guests by Resort (Pescosolido et al., 1997, p. 460), a more qualitative assess- Percentage of images ment. Although individuals of different races rarely appeared in the same images, some were sitting in separate cars on a Race of guests ride or at separate tables in a restaurant. For example, in the Unidenti- image of “Cinderella’s Royal Table”, a dining establishment Resort White Black Latino Asian fiable n in Florida, there was a family of Asians, another a family of Blacks, and an adult White couple, each sitting at different California 67.9 17.2 14.2 15.7 4.5 134 tables. However, in California, “Davy Crockett’s Explorer Florida 41.7 33.3 4.2 29.2 4.2 24 Canoes” showed about 15 young people of different races all Hong Kong 7.1 0.0 0.0 100.0 0.0 14 in the same boat, smiling and paddling together. And in Paris 91.2 8.8 0.0 5.9 0.0 34 Paris, there was an image of girls of different races gathered Tokyo 0.0 0.0 0.0 100.0 0.0 10 around a map in “Adventure Isle,” freely mingling with one n=133 n=34 n=20 n=53 n=7 n=216 another. There were also occasional images of interracial Since each race was coded separately and there is the possibility of more couples or groups, such as the image of the “Tiki Juice Bar” than one race in an image, the percentages in a row may add up to more in California, in which a couple comprised of a White male than 100%. Person of color of unidentifiable race. and a Black female was shown. In addition, we noticed that images of cast members images for resorts in countries with a more racially diverse sometimes included those of several different races. An population. image of the “Dream-Along With Mickey” stage show in We chose to test H8, concerning race, among guests only Florida had cast members of several races on the stage. (see Table 6) because the images of guests would not have to Perhaps they were not interacting in an intimate egalitarian reflect classic Disney characters, potentially providing relationship, but they were working together. This was simi- Disney marketing executives more room for variation and lar to one of the images of “Pixie Hollow–Tinker Bell and choice of race in the images. Since each race was coded sep- Her Fairy Friends” in Fantasyland in California, in which arately for each image of guests, the figures reported in Table five smiling human fairies of several races were displayed. 6 indicate the percentage of images for that resort had people In short, the four resorts for which national data were of that race in an image. This means, for example, that 67.9% available supported H8, that the statistically dominant group of the images for California had Whites in them. Because would appear most often in the images, and Florida and there is the possibility of more than one race in the image, California revealed the greatest racial diversity in the images rows can add up to more than 100%. of the guests. When images were viewed more closely, peo- For Hong Kong and Tokyo, each of which has a popula- ple of different races were shown working together when tion that is 95% or more Asian (Central Intelligence Agency, they were engaged in a Disney activity, but few images dis- 2012), 100% of the images displayed Asians and the images played more intimate egalitarian relationships between those for these two resorts displayed the least racial diversity. For of different races. Auster and Michaud 13 and Pluto were male, such that even a study in the present Discussion that focused on theme parks filled with such characters might We conducted a study of the images of attractions, entertain- reflect more of the past than the present; Do Rozario (2004) ment, and dining establishments that appeared on the official suggested this may “perpetuate a timelessness detached from websites of five Disney resorts to examine human charac- social progress” (p. 36). In different ways, several research- ters, human-like characters, animals, and cast members in ers acknowledged that the historical era from which many of terms of gender as well as guests in terms of both gender and these characters emerged may be an explanation (Davis, race. Our overarching hypothesis regarding gender was that 2006) for their role in films, while others acknowledged this there would be more male-dominated images than female- and noted change over time in Disney films (Gillam & dominated images. This was best measured by the calcula- Wooden, 2008; Pinsky, 2004; Towbin et al., 2004). tion of the gender disparity value. Overall, H1 was supported Nevertheless, Davis (2006) pointed out that the continued for human characters, human-like characters, animals, and popularity of these classic stories indicates that parents and cast members, but not for guests. In addition, the hypothesis their children continue to relate to such stories. was supported by 68.0% of the gender disparity values for The existence of so many classic Disney characters may the five resorts (H4a), 70.0% of the gender disparity values also explain why the number of images of males outnum- for the eight lands (H4b), and 76.9% of the gender disparity bered the images of females more so for attractions and for values for activities (H4c). Interestingly, across all of those entertainment, for which Disney must include its past, than categories, only 19 of the 68 gender disparity values did not for dining establishments, which need only represent the support the hypothesis; of those, 8 were values for guests, present. The negative gender disparity value for cast mem- while the remaining 11 were values spread across human bers for dining may also reflect the presence of food servers, characters, human-like characters, and cast members, but who were predominantly female, particularly in Tokyo. not animals. In addition, the hypothesis that gender disparity Although no other particular resort stood out more than oth- values would be highest for animals was supported for all ers in terms of the hypotheses related to gender, there were five resorts (H5a), six of eight lands (H5b), and all three some differences by land. The greater number of negative activities (H5c). Likewise, the hypothesis that the gender gender disparity values, meaning the percentage of female- disparity value would be lowest for guests was supported by dominated images exceeded the percentage of male-domi- three of five resorts (H6a), six of eight lands (H6b), and all nated images, in Fantasyland may result from that land being three activities (H6c). Thus, although there were variations, the home of many of the classic Disney princesses, while all of these hypotheses were more likely than not to be sup- Frontierland/Westernland focused more on cowboys, with ported by the gender disparity values. Many of the findings the emphasis here on boys, such as Woody from Toy Story. were reminiscent of past research on children’s literature Guests overall had the lowest gender disparity values and (Hamilton et al., 2006; Kortenhaus & Demarest, 1993; better represented the distribution of men and women in each McCabe et al., 2011; Oskamp et al., 1996; Weitzman et al., of the countries in which the five resorts are located (Central 1972), coloring books (Fitzpatrick & McPherson, 2010), and Intelligence Agency, 2012); the explanation may be that the cereal boxes (Black et al., 2009) as well as on Disney’s ani- distribution by gender did not have to be tied to characters mated films (Davis, 2006; Faherty, 2001; Giroux, 1997; from the older classic Disney films. Guests were also more Hoerrner, 1996; Wiersma, 2000) that has shown that female likely than not to have the lowest gender disparity value by characters tended to be underrepresented relative to male resort, land, and activity, though some of those values were characters, and that this was even more exaggerated among positive and some were negative. For example, Fantasyland male and female animal characters (Black et al., 2009; (−42.8%) and Frontierland/Westernland (20.7%) continued Fitzpatrick & McPherson, 2010; Kortenhaus & Demarest, with the same pattern for images of guests that was described 1993; McCabe et al., 2011; Oskamp et al., 1996; Weitzman above for Disney characters and cast members; this may et al., 1972). Many of the above findings do not represent the indicate that lands within the Disney parks are marketed as distribution of males and females in the countries in which gendered: princesses for girls, cowboys for boys. The pattern each of the five resorts is located (Central Intelligence of the number of male-dominated images exceeding the Agency, 2012). This may reflect the symbolic annihilation number of female-dominated images did not persist for fam- of women and reinforce gender inequality (McCabe et al., ily groupings; the number of images with boys only or a 2011; Tuchman, 1978). Moreover, McCabe et al. (2011) sug- male parent only was nearly equal to the number of images gested that animal characters may be a powerful source of with girls only or a female parent, respectively. However, gender messages that are overlooked. sex-segregated pairs, namely, father-son and mother-daugh- Since we had chosen for our research the images used to ter pairs, were more prevalent than mixed-sex parent-child market Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom, the most classic combinations (H7). Perhaps this was due to attractions being Disney theme parks, this may have influenced the gender of marketed in a gendered way. those displayed in the images. Many of the early animal With regard to race of guests, we hypothesized that the characters, such as Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck, racial group representing the statistical majority in each 14 SAGE Open country in which the Disney resort was located would most Suggestions for Future Research often appear in the images based on past research on race in various media (The Cooperative Children’s Book Center, Researchers interested in the Disney resort websites could 2007; Cortese, 2008; Holtzman, 2000; Mendoza & Reese, analyze the videos or words on the webpages or even com- 2001; Pescosolido et al., 1997), including Disney films pare the websites with official Disney DVDs, posters, and (Giroux, 1997; Towbin et al., 2004). We expected those resorts brochures used to market the resorts. We selected the most located in countries with the greatest diversity would reflect traditional, classic theme park within the Disney resorts the greatest diversity but also hypothesized that those of dif- because there was such a theme park in each of the five ferent races would not be likely to be shown interacting in resorts, but other parks could be examined to see whether the “intimate egalitarian ways” (Pescosolido et al., 1997) and that patterns found here persist. For example, at Walt Disney interracial friendship groups and families would be extremely World in Florida, one could look at what is portrayed for rare or invisible. While H8 was in general supported, some Epcot or the Animal Kingdom, two other theme parks within images of guests of different races showed them enjoying an the resort. Although we chose to focus on manifest content, attraction together and some images of cast members showed using latent content one could also assess gender perfor- them working well together. Although it is difficult to know mance (McCabe et al., 2011), or social vulnerability and whether these constitute “intimate egalitarian relationships,” it relationships between those of the same and opposite sex showed that Disney has included those of different races in the (Faherty, 2001). same image and has not necessarily segregated them all by One could also expand an exploration of the portrayal of tables at a restaurant or cars on an attraction. gender and race to a variety of other promotional initiatives Disney has used to market its resorts or cruises over time. It would also be interesting to interview Disney executives Limitations about how and why they chose the images that appeared on There were several limitations to this research using the the websites, the extent to which they were aware of how website images of the four Disneyland parks and the Magic gender and race were portrayed, and whether the images, Kingdom as the sample for this analysis. First, the images particularly of guests, were staged or candid. Given the from the five Disney websites were collected at one point in influence of Disney suggested by a number of scholars time, namely, during the summer season. If the Disney (Giroux, 1997), including the use of the terms Disneyization Company has shows or attractions that vary by season, these (Bryman, 1999) and Disneyfication (Faherty, 2001), it would images were not a part of our sample. Second, although each be useful to study how people perceive the images on the of the webpages for the activities included words and many websites in terms of gender and racial balance and the extent also included short videos, we chose only to analyze the still to which this influences their ideas about gender and race. images that appeared on the webpages. Third, we used stan- One could also expand the research by studying the por- dard gender markers, such as figure, hair, clothing, and trayal of gender and race in images used to market theme accessories, to determine the gender of those in the images. parks such as Six Flags, Busch Gardens, or Hersheypark, or Similarly, the coding by race was based on our assessment theme parks for younger children such as Sesame Place or of visible physical characteristics, such as skin color and Dutch Wonderland. And, of course, for practitioners, it eyelid shape. Obviously, for both gender and race, we did would be interesting to know to what extent such images not know how the individuals in the images self-identified, have an impact on individuals’ willingness to visit such though how individuals appeared and would be perceived by theme parks. From a sociological perspective, because indi- viewers of the images would seem to be more important for viduals are active agents in how they consume images, it this research than self-identification. And there were some would be particularly important to learn how such images images of people that were so small or blurred that their race affect individuals’ perceptions of those who share their gen- and gender could not be determined. Fourth, we were der and race as well as those different from themselves. focused on coding the manifest content, by counting the As a powerful, multinational corporation, The Disney number of Disney characters, cast, and guests who had par- Company is in the position to potentially influence how indi- ticular characteristics; for the most part, we did not study the viduals viewing their websites see gender and race. At the images for latent content, such as the ways in which Disney very least, this study reveals the choices that marketing exec- characters, cast, and guests were seen interacting. Finally, utives have made about the images used to market the although we can report the findings regarding gender and Disneyland parks and the Magic Kingdom. Rudy et al. race of those in the images, we do not know who visits the (2010) suggested that studying such outcomes is an impor- websites, the extent to which visitors to the websites are tant reason for doing content analysis. Those visiting the attentive to the gender and race of those in the images, or the Disneyland parks and the Magic Kingdom websites would impact of gender and racial balance in the images on either see that overall, images of males outnumber those of females, their desire to visit a Disney resort or, more importantly, though this is somewhat less true of guests. The images of ideas about gender and race. those of various races displayed for some resorts reflected Auster and Michaud 15 the degree of diversity of the population in the country in School of Education, Madison. Retrieved from http://www.edu which the resorts were located, while other resorts did not. cation.wisc.edu/ccbc/books/pcstats.asp Cast members of different races were sometimes shown Cortese, A. J. (2008). Provocateur: Images of women and minori- working together, and guests of different races were some- ties in advertising. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. times shown interacting together. But, other images showed Davis, A. M. (2006). Good girls and wicked witches: Women in them carefully segregated by table or rollercoaster car. Disney’s feature animation. Eastleigh, UK: John Libbey. Advertising and film are two of many important cultural Do Rozario, R. (2004). The princess and the Magic Kingdom: mirrors (Cortese, 2008; Davis, 2006). Yet, it seems that even Beyond nostalgia, the function of the Disney princess. Women’s in the present and despite Disney’s lack of realistic represen- Studies in Communication, 27, 34-59. tation of some categories of individuals, the fascination with England, D. E., Descartes, L., & Collier-Meek, M. A. (2011). Gender classic Disney continues. Although the prerogative to do so role portrayal and the Disney princesses. Sex Roles, 64, 555-567. may not be there, Disney could promote a more equitable Faherty, V. E. (2001). Is the mouse sensitive? A study of race, gen- representation of those of different genders and races in the der, and social vulnerability in Disney animated films. Studies images on their websites; this might contribute positively to in Media & Information Literacy Education, 1, 1-8. individuals’ attitudes about gender and race. In addition, as Fitzpatrick, M. J., & McPherson, B. J. (2010). Coloring within the families plan their quintessential vacation, it might expand lines: Gender stereotypes in contemporary coloring books. Sex the repertoire of recreational activities that individuals feel is Roles, 62, 127-137. appropriate for them if they see someone like themselves in Gillam, K., & Wooden, S. (2008). Post-princess models of gender: the images of the many different activities and lands. That The new man in Disney/Pixar. Journal of Popular Film & Tele- way, when viewers hear American celebrities say, “I’m going vision, 36, 2-8. to Disney World!” they will know, regardless of their gender Giroux, H. A. 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Images of gender, race, age, and sexual orientation in Disney feature-length animated films. Journal of Margaret A. Michaud graduated from Franklin & Marshall Feminist Family Therapy, 15, 19-44. College in 2012 with a joint major in sociology and women and Tuchman, G. (1978). Introduction: The symbolic annihilation of gender studies. She has a long-standing interest in Disney and is women by the mass media. In G. Tuchman, A. K. Daniels, & pursuing a career in marketing and research.

Journal

SAGE OpenSAGE

Published: Mar 14, 2013

Keywords: Disney; gender; race; theme park; Internet marketing

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