65 THE T-SHIRT, THE FAIRY AND
THE BRAND GUARDIAN

Roy Disney,along-time senior executive and nephew of founder Walt Disney,never liked the idea of the Disney “brand”. He once said, “Branding is for cattle.” When asked, he would always stress the importance of creating stories and the products that these generated. Despite what he said, on numerous occasions, he was to play the key role as a guardian of the brand, ensuring it stayed true to its vision and core beliefs.

One of the many instances came in 2000. Times were tough and in particular the Consumer Products division was suffering; sales had fallen from $900 million in 1997 to just $386 million in 2000. Former Nike executive Andy Mooney was hired to try to rejuvenate the business.

Mooney’s ideas were radical – at times very radical.

It was his idea to introduce a range of “vintage” t-shirts in upscale clothing shops like Fred Segal, Barneys and Hot Topic. The images on the shirts were taken from the archives. The issue wasn’t the images but the way they were used.

One t-shirt showed Snow White, with a caption underneath saying, “Hangs out with seven small men”. Another showed Tinker Bell in a shot that made it look like she was eyeing up her own bottom in a mirror.

Roy wasn’t happy and sent Mooney a handwritten note, which said: “You are positioning Tinker Bell as a prostitute.”

For a brand dedicated to “the wonderful world of family entertainment”, this was a step too far. Roy would never have used the words but what he was saying was, “Stop it, you’re way off-brand”.

Not surprisingly, the t-shirts were quickly withdrawn and Mooney was forced to apologize.

And the moral is that the brand needs to be able to say “No”. What are the limits of what you would and wouldn’t do with your brand?