7 research outputs found
The Internet Marketing of Disney Theme Parks
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