Rainbow Capitalism: Disney and Its Effects

Abstract

Background: As social movements gain more ground, companies have begun marketing to marginalized groups such as the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning (LGBTQ) community. However, this marketing is often accused of being purely for the company's profit and not for the advancement of equality for these communities. Objective: This study aims to research the possibility of Disney engaging in rainbow capitalism and how that could affect the company and the LGBTQ community as a way to further open conversation on the topic in regards to other companies as well. Design and Method: The research is based on a content analysis of Walt Disney World theme park image advertisements from 2021, coding for semiotic signs of LGBTQ representation and coding for implicit and explicit representation for when it is found in an image. The research questions specifically being answered were: "How many Disney World picture advertisements from 2021 depict LGBTQ representation outside of June (pride month)?" and "How many Disney World advertisements contain either explicit or implicit LGBTQ representation?". Results: The study found that based on a significant lack of advertising aimed at the LGBTQ community, Disney has not engaged in rainbow capitalism and that in the few images that did contain representation, Disney opted to use implicit signs such as ambiguous relationships between same-sex subjects in the images. Conclusions: Although based purely on the data collected, Disney is found not engaging in rainbow capitalism, their active selling of a pride collection and undisclosed revenue split from its profits to charity point that the company stands to profit from this collection as well as potential marketing of it to the LGBTQ community. This concept, in conjunction with past research on how implicit representation often causes more damage to the marginalized community, Disney. However, it may not have partaken in the harmful practice but has not made active decisions in its advertising to stand with the LGBTQ community. Keywords: Rainbow capitalism, semiotics, content analysis, LGBTQ representation, Disney, Advertising