Disney: Reaching Boys

September 2, 2009

Kara Powell
Kara Powell

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This past weekend at a birthday party for my daughter, Krista, I had a very interesting conversation with another parent who works at Disney here in Los Angeles.  He told me that while Disney feels that they have a strong connection with young girls (princesses and fairies abound), they lack a strong connection with young boys.  Boys grow bored of the Disney characters and move on to other places.

On Monday, it was announced that Disney has bought Marvel Comics, a partnership that will now allow them to develop characters like Spiderman and the Transformers.  Many have speculated that it was largely motivated by their desire to connect with young boys, a market that has been elusive for them.

In the midst of Disney’s capitalist motives, I’ve got to say this:  I admire Disney for being proactive.

Churches often moan over folks they don’t seem to be connecting with and then do little about it.  At least Disney was creative and figured out a way to try to connect with more guys.

©2009 Fuller Youth Institute

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  • http://transformingseminarian.blogspot.com Mark Baker-Wright

    OK, I’m definitely putting on my “Transformer nerd” hat to say this, but anyone who does even a cursory examination of my blog would force me to admit that there’s no denying that’s what I am….

    Although the concept behind the Transformers was indeed developed in the 1980′s by Marvel comics at Hasbro’s request, and Marvel did produce the original Transformers comic (*nostalgic sigh*), it is now wholly owned by Hasbro (in America, anyway, I can get into international stuff, but Marvel still would be out of the picture), and current Transformers comics are even produced by a rival comics company.

    Marvel’s pretty much out of the picture, in regard to Transformers.

    Still, if Disney wants to join up with Hasbro to release this toy (created by an agreement between Disney and Tomy in Japan), I’d be all for it!

  • http://transformingseminarian.blogspot.com Mark Baker-Wright

    I don’t know if I typed the HTML wrong, or if it’s just a thing about this blog software, but for those wondering, the “this toy” I referenced can be seen at http://www.tfsource.com/products/view/product_id/688/

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