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Chloe McConnell
MIT 3207F
Prof. Selma Purac
October 11, 2016
The Elephant in the Room.
2009 marks an unforgettable moment in American history. At the time of the
Great Recession, American households lost $16 trillion in net worth (investopedia.ca),
and 7.5 million jobs were disposed of (investopedia.ca). Americans needed additional
options when deciding how to spend their time; wasting money on luxury consumer
goods was out of the question. Coincidentally, once upon a time Disney World released a
commercial during the recession in order to convince Americans that even when their
pockets were empty, a Disney vacation was still an affordable option. A lack of
disposable income meant anxious parents—fearing they will be unable to entertain their
children—in desperate need of an alternate way to distract their children, because they
cannot purchase retail goods. As a result, Disney effectively appeases the mind of the
broke parent, looking for cheap forms of entertainment that will allow themselves and
their family to escape the reality of economic disparity. This essay will argue that Disney
World’s 2009 commercial utilizes nostalgia, affordability, and animation in order to
entice the imaginations of viewers, and create the illusion of an escape to a magical
kingdom where financial crisis does not exist, and families are free to fly elephants for
$1696 a week.
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Disney’s iconic animation is the most obvious tactic used to entice viewers of a
younger age bracket. In order to establish a relationship with Disney’s younger prospects,
the audience is introduced to two flying elephants—that appear to resemble Dumbo—
into the advert’s landscape. The elephants are accompanied with twinkling music and a
cheerful grin that is sure to spark a young imagination. Many corporations make use of
animated characters to attract young customers, as most children are entertained by
animation, and will often confuse a cartoon-spokesperson with a particular brand (Neely
& Shumann 8). Introducing a service or good in unison with a cartoon character causes
children to classify that particular good or service as ‘kid-approved’ (Neely & Shumann
9); if it is a place where elephants can fly, it must be a place for a child. The two
animated elephants are the central characters for the child viewer throughout the whole
Disney commercial. There is not anywhere these elephants cannot go; they buzz over the
distant, sparkling, Disney sky, their shadows trickle over walls, escaping the illusion and
entering the confines of the family home. The elephant acts as an opportunity for the
children to escape the boredom of their lives that were lacking in consumer goods, where
they only participated in activities such as practicing piano and completing their
homework. Any child viewing the advert places the elephant on a pedestal, as a magician
that can help them escape the darkness of their home and plainness of the real world
where toys do not seem to exist, to the magic kingdom that is Disney World.
The viewer is continuously shown shots of ‘mom and dad’ perusing the Internet,
and conversing about a vacation deal that they can afford, perhaps suggesting that
affordability is a major theme throughout the duration of the commercial. In a time of
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economic disparity in the United States when disposable income was not plentiful,
families would have needed to consider cheaper vacation options. Disney acts as the
vacation ‘hero’, offering North Americans domestic travel at an affordable price that the
whole family can enjoy. Affordability is the second major focus of the advertisement,
playing on the vulnerabilities of withering pockets amongst parents in 2009. By
downplaying the luxury of the home, and portraying a more realistic illustration of a
lower to middle class family’s living quarters, Disney is able to maximize the impact of
the magic kingdom. The home is a place of plainness and boredom, whereas Disney
offers parents an escape for an affordable price. Parents are convinced Disney is the
ultimate option; families can still experience a taste of luxury, at an affordable price.
Disney knew affordability alone was not a strong enough tactic; they must
connect with parents on a much deeper, emotional level—finally, one’s nostalgia comes
in. Cave describes a phenomenon that occurred during the financial crisis where adults
saw vacation and activity time as “a distraction from financial fear” (3). In other words,
consumers saw vacations as a means of distraction, and as a way to shed some happiness
into their dreary lives. To play into this social trend, Disney first provides the viewer with
an ordinary New York family experiencing money troubles that is easy to connect with;
both parents are present in the home during the workday, presumably experiencing some
effects from the economic crisis. Once the scenario seems plausible and believable,
Disney makes use of nostalgia and the iconic character—Dumbo—returns from the past,
flying the family into a vacation dreamland away from economic disparity. Activating the
nostalgia amongst adult audiences causes them to form a much deeper distraction from
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their reality. The Disney theme park becomes an environment where nostalgia is alive,
and the economic crisis is dead. Disney is able to distract the viewer with a memory of
Dumbo, reminding North American parents that Disney World is a place where your
dreams can still prosper, even if your bank account states otherwise. As a result, the
parents in the ad willingly get onto the elephants, and take the leap into the distraction of
Disney, and away from the confines of their New York apartment. In the same way
Disney is able to offer children an escape through animation, their parents are
mesmerized by the nostalgia of Dumbo, and taken out of the reality of their financial
disparity.
In conclusion, through the use of animation, a focus on affordability, and the
distraction of nostalgia, Disney creates an effective ad that tinkers with the imagination,
and releases adults from the stresses of their daily lives during an economic crisis.
Without showing a single shot of the Disney World theme park itself, the viewer has the
freedom to imagine a kingdom where a recession does not exist, and children can escape
their homework and the dread of the city. The Disney vacation appears in the commercial
as the ultimate solution to financial worry—even though the vacation still requires that
the consumer spend money. The flying elephants play a dual role in the commercial,
providing the child with a means to escape the dullness of adult world, and the parent
with a nostalgic memory of Dumbo to distract them from their stressful realities. The
commercial—therefore—addresses all members of the family directly, but in a much
different way. Disney’s ability to mask a consumer service with the illusion of magic,
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Works Cited
Cave, Damien. “In Recession, Americans Doing More, Buying Less.” The New York
Times Company, 3 Jan. 2010,
http://www.colorado.edu/Economics/morey/4999Ethics/LaborLeisureEnvir/Cave
NYT01032010.pdf. Accessed 9 October 2016. Web.
Sabrina M. Neeley, and David W. Schumann. "Using Animated Spokes-Characters in
Advertising to Young Children: Does Increasing Attention to Advertising
Necessarily Lead to Product Preference?" Journal of Advertising 33.3 (2004): 7-
23. Web.
“The Great Recession.” Investopedia.ca
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/businesscycle.asp. Accessed 10 October
2016. Web.
“Walt Disney World 2009 Commercial.” Youtube, uploaded by Disney Parks 2009, 6
Feb. 2009,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S5qdaqLsSg&list=PLJEb1IVKTmCUi3Ecc
y9GqR8Qx12Wx3Rs9&index=9
