It is no secret to anyone who pays attention to pop culture that Disney has abandoned its family-friendly business model for a radical pro-LGBTQ agenda. Disney has been going woke for decades, but in recent days, that approach seems to be backfiring on them financially.
According to some estimates, there have been at least twenty occasions where Disney found a way to overtly promote their LGBTQ agenda through characters in their films. Wikipedia published an article containing over 6,000 words that lists all the times Disney found a way to incorporate their sexual agenda into their animated films targeted largely at children. According to the APM Research Lab, only 20 percent of parents approve of exposing a child under the age of 18 to entertainment that promotes an LGBTQ agenda.
In summer of 2023, Disney’s animated film Elemental featured a non-binary character and had the lowest initial box office sales of any Pixar film to date (only $45 million globally, although it seems to be slowly recovering). It appears many parents are getting sick of the leftist propaganda and are spending their money in other directions than Disney. According to the Washington Examiner in July 2023, attendance has been sparse at Disney vacation locations. One annual pass holder said, “I couldn’t believe how light the crowds were.”
Florida’s governor and presidential hopeful, Ron DeSantis, was quoted in the Examiner as saying:
“What made Disney the all-American company under Walt and beyond was a focus on family, a focus on traditional pro-American values. (The original team) would never have wanted to sexualize children the way (the new) Disney has (done).”
Between spring of 2021 and summer of 2023, Disney’s stock value lost over half its value. In February of 2023 Disney began the process of laying off over 7,000 of their employees.
There is much speculation that Disney may end up needing to sell some of its assets to generate capital for the failing company. Disney owns television networks ABC, ESPN, FX, and National Geographic. In a statement that was unsettling to many in the Disney corporation, Disney’s current president, Bob Iger, was quoted as saying to CNBC’s David Faber that the TV networks “may not be core” to Disney’s future.
In the second quarter of 2023 alone, Disney lost over 4 million subscribers to their streaming service. This could be in part due to depraved streaming content like the 2022 Disney-owned horror film Fresh, that promotes cannibalism! Yes, you read that correctly!
Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis and founder of the ARK Encounter theme park in northern Kentucky, says,
“Yes, you can visit Disney attractions and pay a lot of money to have some very expensive fun at a company that financially supports very anti-biblical causes and increasingly permeates movies/programs with an anti-biblical worldview. Or you can bring your family to the two leading Christian-themed attractions in the world: the Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum. Kids 10 and under are free; they provide fun, but at the same time everyone learns the truth of God’s Word and the gospel that has eternal value; guests pay much less than Disney for our new three-day Bouncer Pass to both attractions; visitors stay in local hotels and B&Bs, visit local restaurants and other attractions, and support local businesses. Is there really a choice?”
In an article he wrote on Disney entitled, “The Wokest Place on Earth?” Ken tells about a streaming service Answers in Genesis provides called, “Answers TV” which provides family-friendly educational and entertainment content to provide an alternative to the woke agenda of Disney.
Obviously, the future is still uncertain as to what changes may happen and if Disney can find a way to regain their footing, but as Bud Light, the Los Angeles Dodgers, Target, and others found in 2023, if you “Go Woke, You Go Broke.”
It seems quite certain that Disney has no intent of returning to its early wholesome image. The question that remains is whether they are so tone deaf to their audience they will torpedo their own ship financially before they wake up from their wokeness.
