Disney Admits Wokeness Killing Profits And Alienating Customers

ANALYSIS – Despite their public bravado and doubling down on pushing a far-left woke agenda on their fans, the Disney company is quietly admitting its controversial politics is seriously hurting its bottom line.

As conservative political analyst John Turley writes: America seems to be giving woke Disney ‘the middle finger.’

And that is what Disney seems to be admitting in its latest annual SEC filing.

The company acknowledges that “we face risks relating to misalignment with public and consumer tastes and preferences for entertainment, travel and consumer products.”

It adds that: “Generally, our revenues and profitability are adversely impacted when our entertainment offerings and products, as well as our methods to make our offerings and products available to consumers, do not achieve sufficient consumer acceptance. Further, consumers’ perceptions of our position on matters of public interest, including our efforts to achieve certain of our environmental and social goals, often differ widely and present risks to our reputation and brands.”

Translation – ‘our company and brand is tanking dramatically due to our aggressive ideologically motivated agenda that has no place in business.’ (RELATED: Disney Resorts To Unusual Tactic To Sell Minnie Mouse Clothing To Girls)

Disney’s far-left social agenda famously came to public attention in 2022 when it went to battle with the state of Florida under Gov. Ron DeSantis.

This, over the Parental Rights in Education Law, which simply banned sexual education to children in public schools in the third grade or younger.

Following leftist talking points, Disney claimed DeSantis was proposing a “don’t say gay” bill – but the GOP bill never mentions gays, only prohibiting sex ed for the youngest kids, saying that issue was best left for parents to handle.

Since then, Disney has been on a fast track to hell.

As shown above, Disney recently had a male dressed as a female greeting young children at their Disneyland facility in Anaheim, California.

And to further Disney’s aggressive promotion of gender nonconformity and transgenderism to children, the once wholesome American company has now partnered with a man who identifies as gender fluid to promote Disney apparel for girls.

Meanwhile, following backlash and low earnings from its other woke mistakes, the summer release of the new “Snow White” – which includes the seven dwarfs replaced with magical creatures of multiple genders – was postponed until March 2025.

As Jonathan Turley writes in The Hill:

Disney has reportedly lost a billion dollars just on four of its recent “woke” movie flops, productions denounced by critics as pushing political agendas or storylines. Yet until now, the company has continued to roll out underperforming movies as revenue has dropped. What’s more, Disney stars persist in bad-mouthing its fabled storylines and undermining its new productions. The company admits that it has suffered a continued slide in “impressions” (that is, viewership) by 14 percent.

And that will likely only grow. Newsmax reported that: “In September, Disney announced it was expected to fall tens of millions short of its 2024 goal for Disney+ and its streaming service Hulu.” (RELATED: Serious Competitor Coming For Disney From The Heartland?)

The outlet also noted:

Customers have been fleeing Disney+ and Hulu in the wake of nationwide boycotts and sharp subscription price increases.

And this past summer, Disney stock had a hit a 9-year low, with its marketing cap falling from $350.09 billion March 22, 2022, to $154.04 billion – a decline of $196.05 billion – or a 56% drop.

Turley credits Disney’s woes as a function of what the late economist Adam Smith called the “hidden hand” of the marketplace.

“In recent filings, Disney appears to acknowledge Smith’s invisible hand is giving the ‘House of Mouse’ the middle finger,” Turley wrote.

Meanwhile, Turley adds:

Disney’s products are now viewed by many conservatives as empty virtue signaling and endless attempts to indoctrinate children. Moreover, when the company publicly declares its opposition to a popular parental rights bill in Florida, it is moving away from a commercial to a political focus.

That is the problem with the invisible hand. You can bring movies to the public, but you cannot make them sell. Once an unassailable and uniting brand, the Disney brand is now negatively associated with activism by a significant number of consumers. The company is now even reporting a decline in licensing revenue from products associated with Star Wars, Frozen, Toy Story and Mickey and Friends — iconic and once-unassailable corporate images.

The question is how long Disney (or its shareholders) can tolerate falling revenues tied to its “misalignment with the public.” 

Let’s keep protesting and shunning their products to make them find out.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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