The Daily Drool

Disney and McDonalds

Anne Sweeney is the President of ABC Cable Networks Group & President of Disney Channel Worldwide. She is also a graduate of my program at the Harvard Ed School and we had a video conference with her in my “Growing Up in a Media World” class on Wednesday. She talked about Playhouse Disney, a new Disney media property devoted to educational programming for children ages 2-5, and its “Whole Child Curriculum” endorsed by Harvard Project Zero. The curriculum, like any good doctrine for early childhood practice, mentions physical, social, emotional, moral, cognitive, and metacognitive educational goals.

Inspired by Michael Moore’s success with K-Mart in Bowling for Columbine, I asked Anne about the possible contradiction between the Whole Child Curriculum and the co-marketing arrangements between Disney and McDonalds. Should a curriculum devoted to healthy physical and moral development be tying its brand to McDonalds, a major contributor to obesity and environmental damange? She said she thinks that no such contradiction exists, and that parents have a choice about what to feed their children.

I intend to question Anne’s assumptions through a research paper for the class.

Ultimately I hypothesize a system of causation of the following form: Disney Whole Child curriculum -> increased trust of the Disney brand by parents -> increased viewing of Disney by young children -> increased comfort among children with Disney brand -> increased desire for Disney products -> increased desire for McDonalds and Lunchables foods incorporating Disney brands -> children’s nagging parents for McDonalds -> parents’ feeding children McDonalds -> association between foods and comfort/enjoyment of Disney brand rather than hunger and need for nutrition -> over-eating of unhealthy foods -> obesity -> poor self image -> social seclusion -> more TV viewing -> increased exposure to Disney brand. This cycle of keeping children indoors watching television -> lack of appreciation for the outdoors -> apathy about environmental issues. This in turn permits: McDonalds consumption -> increased output from cow and poultry agribusiness -> monoculture, deforestation, groundwater pollution.

Barbara Meltz talked a bit about these connections at a media literacy night that my friend Naomi Greenfield and I helped conduct last week at the Cabot School in Newton, MA. I’m planning to draw on Barbara’s editorials, Fast Food Nation and the sources it sites, Diet for a Small Planet and other environmentalist cuisine literature, and studies about television and obesity. I’m sure this has all been done to some extent before; my emphasis is going to be on relating these issues with the Whole Child Curriculum and highlighting any conflicts in pedagogy, ideology, and brand identity that might exist.

Ultimately, I’d like to use the paper for some political action, working to persuade Disney to align their brand with healthier and more environmentally friendly foods and products. I see four routes of pressure:

• Direct action, in the form of sending the essay to Anne Sweeney
• Mediated action through Project Zero - encouraging them to push healthy and environmentally responsible diet into the physical and ethical dimensions of the curriculum. Perhaps PZ could threaten to withdraw their name unless Disney changes its marketing strategy
• Media literacy campaigns for families to increase awareness of these issues
• Political organization of families and media watchdog groups to boycott and protest Disney’s ties to fast food

I think these questions are particularly pertinent when she said during the video conference that they intend for Playhouse Disney programming to be “irresistible” and that “children won’t be able to turn around without seeing something from Playhouse Disney.” If my readers have any insights or resources to contribute to this effort, please let me know.