Disney Memories: One to Forget

So it’s old news by now that Disney has a new marketing campaign that it announced with all the brouhaha that is usually reserved for announcements of actual things. The big news? The Disney Parks promotion for 2011 is called Let the Memories Begin, which, in addition to being a ridiculous name (Did the memories ever stop? Isn’t this what the Men in Black say after they flash someone with that wand-thing?), is also manipulative and proves that social media concepts (in this case, the “sharing economy”) should not be applied to real life.

Here’s the sell: people upload their Disney memories – stories, videos, photos, etc – and share them at DisneyParks.com/memories. In the parks themselves, Disney PhotoPass photographers will provide images taken that day to feed a nighttime show and the images will be projected onto Cinderella’s Castle (and “it’s a small world” in Disneyland) with great fanfare and music.

My first thought was, what a silly idea. You know how you go over a friend’s house and she is all, "We just went on an awesome vacation" and you politely say, “Oh that’s great. I’ll have to see pictures sometime,” and then you realize you've gone and done it and now your friend has retrieved a massive photo album and now you are stuck looking at 500 family photos and ooohing and aahhhing and omg that's hilarious-ing out of politeness while awkwardly peeking over her shoulder for an hour? This is that experience, except you will be standing the whole time.

But that’s just the castle piece of the Disney Memories promotion. The other piece is that your Disney photos, videos, and memories can be used in television advertisements and posters. As if this is some sort of privilege, when the sad reality is it’s cheaper for Disney to use your old home movies than it is for them to recreate them with actors. You sign over rights to use your image and likeness, Disney saves a few bucks, and you get … what, exactly? Let’s be clear on this – “Let the Memories Begin” is not a value-add for guests. It’s a marketing strategy, pure and simple. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, the Disney privacy policy says that your information can be shared with other Disney firms and companies that do business with Disney. So congratulations Disney Parks, you’re now as shady as Facebook.

And then my snark and mockery gave way to something else … disappointment. To Disney, we are just bodies to fill the parks, wallets fat with money to spend, and after it’s all over, we can be used as pawns in the Great Disney Marketing Machine. And it makes me sad to see the same company that was once so focused on helping families create memories, now being focused on exploiting them.

Because here’s the thing about memories. They’re personal. They’re unique to me. And while a photo of us may look like just another family enjoying their day at WDW, the real story is often so much more than that. Maybe it was from the first trip we all took as grownups. Maybe it was the trip where my sister got over her fear of roller coasters, and we could finally enjoy every ride together. Maybe it was the trip where we could afford to stay on Disney property for the first time. Maybe it was the first trip we took without my dad after my parents divorced. These memories are so important and so special and so priceless to me, and no Disney, you may not co-op them to sell more theme park tickets. I don’t know what’s more insulting, that they even asked in the first place or that they’re trying to manipulate me into thinking it’s a privilege.

I don’t know if Walt would be ashamed, but I certainly am. And that’s a memory I wish I would go away.

This post is part of the DisMarks Blog Carnival. For more Disney reads, click here.
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Related Links:
* An Open Letter to 3-D
* Meet the New Minnie Mouse. Then Back Away Slowly.
* The Problem with Disney Princesses