Stitch Added to One of Disney’s Most Offensive Movies

in Disney, Merchandise

Credit: Walt Disney Animation Studios

This week, a typo on Target’s online collaboration with the Disney Store led to some confusion, with shoppers wondering if they’d missed when Lilo and Stitch (2002) teamed up with The Aristocats (1970). The mistake was unfortunately timed as an unexpected 40% off select Disney Store items sale sent more viewers than usual to the superstore’s website.

Target teamed up with the Disney Store in 2019, adding mini Disney sections to 40 locations. Five years later, they’ve expanded to hundreds of stores, replacing most Disney Store locations, and sell shopDisney products online. They sell some of the same merchandise lines as Walt Disney World Resort, like Munchlings and Cuddleez.

A Disney Store located inside of Target.
Credit: Target

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The typo impacted a Cuddleez plush of Angel, Stitch’s love interest in Lilo and Stitch: The Series on Disney Channel. Instead of being listed under Lilo and Stitch, the plush is labeled as part of The Aristocats collection:

An Angel Cuddleez plush is incorrectly listed under 'The Aristocats' instead of 'Lilo and Stitch' on Target's website.
Credit: Target

The error didn’t impact any other Lilo & Stitch products but also appeared on the mobile version of Target’s online store:

A plush of the 'Lilo and Stitch' character Angel showing up as a character from 'The Aristocats' on Target's website.
Credit: Target

The mix-up is understandable, as Target also sells a Cuddleez plush of Marie from The Aristocats for the same price. But it’s an ironic mistake given the vast cultural differences between the Walt Disney Animation Studios films.

Lilo & Stitch animators worked with cultural experts and Native Hawaiians to depict life in Hawaii accurately. Lilo (Daveigh Chase) and Nani (Tia Carrere) struggle with grief, poverty, and the commodification of their culture by white tourists. Though no film is perfect, its messages of accepting others’ differences and the value of ‘Ohana (family) have made Stitch (Chris Sanders) and his friends a pop culture staple for over two decades.

Lilo dances with Stitch wearing a hula skirt
Credit: Disney

The Aristocats, while recognized as a Disney classic, has a more sordid history. Its offensive depiction of a Siamese cat led The Walt Disney Company to add a cultural sensitivity warning to the beginning of the film on Disney+. It reads:

“This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now. Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together.

Disney is committed to creating stories with inspirational and aspirational themes that reflect the rich diversity of the human experience around the globe.”

The Walt Disney Company explained its decision to flag The Aristocats on the “Stories Matter” section of its website in 2020. A team of experts from various nonprofits and cultural organizations dove into Disney’s content library and identified outdated, offensive depictions that couldn’t be ignored.

Aristocats kittens
Credit: Disney

“The cat is depicted as a racist caricature of East Asian peoples with exaggerated stereotypical traits such as slanted eyes and buck teeth,” Disney wrote. “He sings in poorly accented English voiced by a white actor and plays the piano with chopsticks. This portrayal reinforces the ‘perpetual foreigner’ stereotype, while the film also features lyrics that mock the Chinese language and culture such as ‘Shanghai, Hong Kong, Egg Foo Young. Fortune cookie always wrong.’”

While Target did not intend to connect Lilo and Stitch to an offensive movie, tagging Angel as a character from The Aristocats carries an extra level of irony, given the vast differences between the two films.

Is The Aristocats acceptable in 2024? Share your thoughts with Inside the Magic in the comments. 

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