Step foot into any Disney Parks shop this spring and you’re sure to find evidence of the latest fads sweeping across social media. From rose gold spirit jerseys to millennial pink Minnie ears, Disney is constantly proving that they’re capable of keying into whatever it is the kids are doing these days.
For those who have seen their social media channels overrun with spirit jersey selfies and strawberry rose gold churro taste-test videos, however, it might feel like Disney has taken things a bit too far. So, which is it: Is Disney simply following the crowd or demonstrating savvy marketing strategies? And are its young consumers really buying into the hottest trends after they’ve been stamped with the Disney brand? Let’s take a closer look.
The evolution of Disney merchandising
Image: Sam Howzit, Flickr (license)
Of course, there were no millennial pink cupcakes or rose gold Minnie ears when Disneyland opened its gates to the public in the summer of 1955. Strolling down Main Street, U.S.A., guests could purchase deli meat and cider from Swift Market House, music boxes from Wonderland Music Co., lingerie and undergarments from Hollywood Maxwell’s Intimate Apparel Shop, and cigarettes, pipes and cigars from Fine Tobacco. It wasn’t just that Walt Disney wanted parkgoers to experience Disneyland in as authentic a manner as possible—as Sam Gennawey revealed in The Disneyland Story, Walt lacked an intimate knowledge of the retail industry and had not equipped his staff to run a plethora of shops and eateries during Disneyland’s inaugural year. Instead, he was forced to depend on outside vendors to supply the park with enough food and souvenirs to satiate an excited and spendthrift consumer base.
As the park continued to expand and adapt to the demands of ever-increasing crowds, these one-of-a-kind retail spaces were phased out in favor of generic souvenir shops. By the turn of the 21st century, guests were hard-pressed to find the replica muskets of the Frontier Gun Shop, inexpensive animation cels of Tomorrowland’s Art Corner or authentic antique chandeliers of the aptly-named One-of-a-Kind Shop. From land to land, merchandise locations began streamlining—and Disney-fying—their wares. Theme park staples like autograph books, t-shirts, mugs, pins, and Mickey hats and headbands began cropping up all over the park as more unique items disappeared from the shelves.
Image: Disney
That’s not to say guests bemoaned the loss of Disneyland’s more quirky take-home baubles and gifts. Disney recognized that many parkgoers flocking to the parks were more likely to spend their money on items they could use during vacation rather than lugging precious antiques and unwieldy toys back home. Merchandise became cheaper, more brightly-colored and decidedly Disney—not something guests were likely to use once they stepped outside of the park’s perimeter.
Making Disney merchandise “cool” again
Image: Disney
These days, the Disney Parks seem to have settled on a new sweet spot: a marriage of popular social trends and the classic Disney brand. In addition to the kaleidoscope of standard Disney hats, sweatshirts, pins, and plush toys, guests can now purchase über-popular spirit jerseys (available in black and white, navy, olive green, Minnie Mouse, rose gold, millennial pink, stone-wash gray, seafoam green, light blue, Ariel, Snow White, Aurora, the list goes on), find Minnie ears dusted in millennial pink, and even enjoy an on-trend rose gold churro or two.
Just as the original Mickey ear hats and multicolored Fab Five t-shirts were designed with the carefree tourist family in mind, these fashion-forward accessories are specially geared toward a specific type of parkgoer: teenagers and twenty-somethings, particularly those who would rather spend a day touring the Food & Wine Festival and capturing the perfect photo in front of the Bubblegum Wall for their Instagram feed than, say, racing from attraction to attraction from dawn ’til dusk. (This isn’t to say that sparkly Minnie ears are only for the young and Instagram-savvy, or that everyone who sports a spirit jersey is only doing so to keep up with current trends—just that this merchandise has more clearly been aimed at a younger market than it has in the past.) As Robert Niles of the OC Register so astutely pointed out in his review of Pixar Fest, the DIsney Parks are no longer overrun with families. They’ve started to see an influx of young adults, child-free couples and friend groups who are experiencing the parks, attractions, and retail spaces in a new way, which in turn has forced the company to readjust their marketing strategies.
Image: Disney
Instead of picking up the occasional collectible pin and bubble wand during the annual family vacation, fans now have a plethora of trendy, exclusive souvenirs that, for some, have become the focal point of their visits to the parks. (During the initial rose gold rush, cast members struggled to keep even a few pairs of the salmon-pink ears on the rack for longer than a few hours.) While local fans may not have felt as pressed to purchase souvenirs on frequent visits to the parks, that’s no longer the case—within the last six months, Disney has rolled out everything from Millennial Pink MagicBands to Rose Gold Unicorn Cupcakes and Rose Gold Margaritas.
Staying relevant—and profitable—in the age of millennial pink spirit jerseys
Image: Disney
Rose gold cupcakes and millennial pink milkshakes are pretty enough on their own, but Disney isn’t just making cute merchandise for the sole purpose of attracting a younger demographic. There’s a distinct upside to creating food and fashion that looks good in front of a camera.
Consider this: According to an annual survey run by Instagram, Disneyland Park was the most-Instagrammed location in the world in 2017, beating out frequent favorites like New York City’s bustling Times Square and the elegant, iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris. Granted, Disney Parks are well-established hotspots for tourists and travelers around the globe, but it’s also worth noting that a significant number of those photos featured some of Disney’s trendiest and most popular accessories and culinary treats. The more millennial pink spirit jerseys Disney creates, the more fans flock to the parks to purchase them, the more photos are staged, Instagrammed and hashtagged, the more fans want to purchase the spirit jerseys, and so on and so forth. It’s a vicious cycle rivaled only by that of a mouse and his beloved cookie—one that not only guarantees a thriving stream of revenue for Disney, but offers the company some free marketing as well. And this is to say nothing of the parkgoers who take it upon themselves to become unofficial middlemen for Disney by purchasing and reselling the hottest souvenirs to hit the shelves, too. Disney no longer has to pretend to be cool or relevant among young adults; its high school- and college-age consumers are doing that for them (and more convincingly than ever).
While your Instagram feed might be saturated with trendy Minnie ears and bedazzled macarons for the foreseeable future, rest assured that these aren’t signs of Disney selling out—they’re proof that the company is invested in reaching a new target demographic, one whose #purplewall photoshoots and spirit jersey selfies will help preserve the Disney Parks’ no. 1 social media ranking for years to come.
