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Credit: DisneyDisney fans have been looking at the company for a while now and wondering what went wrong. The easy answer was to point the finger at two scapegoats: COVID and former Disney CEO Bob Chapek.
Related: Wall Street Believes Disney’s Price Increases Have Hit a ‘Breaking Point’
However, the easy answer isn’t necessarily the right answer. Rolling Stone Magazine investigated what went wrong with The Walt Disney Company and found that the issues run deeper than COVID and Chapek. The real problem is Disney and Bob Iger’s “arrogance.”
Rolling Stone talked to a handful of former employees and super fans about Disney’s last five years and found that the company has moved away from Walt Disney’s vision, not necessarily in the way the right thinks.
In 2019, The Walt Disney Company was on top of the world, but COVID hit them hard, especially the Disney Parks. However, Chapek’s response to COVID was to pump out a massive number of films for Disney+ while cheapening the Disney experience at the parks.
Related: ‘Go Back to Walt’s Original Vision,’ but What Does That Even Look Like?
However, Disney’s ultimate sin was believing that its fans would buy anything the company produced. From animated movies to its theme park division, this “arrogance” hasn’t changed since Chapek left.
One former employee told Rolling Stone:
They tolerate fans. They take their money. But I feel like the fans and the bloggers and the influencers kind of annoy them, too. From my perspective, they don’t market toward the people who are their biggest moneymakers.
Since Bob Iger returned, he has focused on fixing Disney’s film division and making Dinsey+ profitable. While doing that, he neglected Disney Parks as they fell behind their competitors.
Iger has announced dozens of new projects coming to Walt Disney World and Disney’s global parks, but Disney adults don’t trust the company anymore. All announcements are meant to increase skepticism, which wasn’t there in the past.
So, what Rolling Stone has realized is that Disney adults are reaching their breaking point with The Walt Disney Company. After taking Disney fans for granted for decades, fans are finally starting to revolt, and it doesn’t seem that Disney cares.
One former employee told Rolling Stone:
There is a sense that if the company is not careful and they don’t adjust their course, that there is a point where people won’t see them as the leader anymore. They also were reflective of a company that is dismissive toward, if not outright contemptuous of, its most loyal fans.
Being a Disney adult has become a part of some people’s identity, but there’s only so much people can take before they break. And this may be as far as Disney can push them.
Do you agree that Disney’s ‘arrogance’ will be its undoing?