Exiting the shower this morning I tripped over the lifeless cranium of Cinderella. Hairstyling Cinderella that is — and my daughter Lily had apparently been trying to comb her hair with a spoon on our bathroom floor while I dozed under the hot water. She had since abandoned Cinderella and run off to a tea party with 5 other princesses. Disney Princesses have taken over my life.
If you aren’t familiar with the Disney Princesses let me bring you up to speed. Someone in Walt’s marketing department had the great idea to resurrect leading ladies from their movies (classic and contemporary), and by packaging them together with pink and glitter, have created a merchandising tour de force. The full lineup includes Cinderella, Snow White, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Belle (Beauty and the Beast), Princess Jasmine (Aladdin) and Ariel (The Little Mermaid). And little girls go crazy for them.
Unless you live with a female under 5 years of age, you probably can’t understand how I have allowed Disney Princesses to rule my home. We have DP headbands, coloring books and crayons, dolls, storybooks, jewelry, sleepwear, costumes, tiaras, bedding, band-aids, even a toothbrush and DP toothpaste. She will tell you that each item in her collection is her “treasure” and the idea she might have to part with any of them would break her heart. And there is always something new for my daughter to discover — and NEEEEEED. Therein lies the genius of Disney branding through entertainment, engaging the consumer to trigger a purchase based on a desire born out of an emotional connection.
This was evidenced on a recent visit to the grocery store. My daughter in tow, I just needed to grab a few ingredients for dinner. But with each aisle we went down, more potential “treasures” were discovered. Squeals of excitement soon give way to serious negotiations and then stifled tears as we zoomed past the DP dress-up magnets, round the corner to discover DP press-on fingernails, followed by DP bubbles, DP stickers and a DP plastic rhinestone emblazoned cell phone. These items are all strategically merchandised just at the height that catches the eye of a small child in a shopping cart. By aisle 5 or 6, just as Disney hoped, I’m giving in to the pleas and negotiations and allowing Lily to select one addition to her collection. Even for a mom in marketing, it inevitably happens (almost) every time. What’s a few dollars when I can watch her face light up? Victory — and sheer joy at her new acquisition. The Disney Princesses rule on.
http://disney.go.com/princess/princess.html
Great post, I have 10 nieces and the Disney Princesses rule their lives as well. So don’t worry — you are not alone. Disney marketing is genius and marketing torture all at the same time!
Looks like my checking book. Much to the surprise of many (adults), I love the Disney Princess collection. Why doesn’t Disney make anymore princess movies?
This is embarassing, but some of my friends and I actually talked about possibly dressing up as the Disney Princesses for Halloween last year…pretty sure my designated princess was Aurora but I really wanted to be Cinderella…too bad these costumes don’t come in adult sizes.
Who knew?? Does DP have a blog – tried the site it is a bit scary- Go Lily
http://disney.go.com/princess/princess.html
Though I love ABC – The DP website shut down my computer – yikes she is so powerful!
If only they marketed the Disney PRINCES line just as much. Imagine posters, dolls and makeup with such heroic men like Eric, Charming, Aladdin/Ali, “The Prince” Ferdinand, Phillip, Beast/Adam, they would all look eerily alike with Beast as the exception of course.
http://www.disneyticket.org/photo/DisneyPrincesWallpaper.jpg
I have cast off my disdain for princesses past. Lily (the consumer) and Thea (mom and accomplice) have me convinced that we must support DP in a big way, thus reviving the American economy. Let the shopping begin!
PS – what an invigorating prose morsel that blog is! More, Thea, more!
Penny W.
In addition to the “Treasures” you name, my 3 yr old neice Kameryn demands DP fruit snacks, Crocs, bathing suit, has her own thrown and wand and has now has progressed into the next generation of costumes — DP ballerina costumes. Don’t be fooled, they are much different than the original DP costumes (just enough to charge more money, right?)
http://disneyshopping.go.com/disney/store/DSISearch?Searchstr=princess+costume&storeId=10051&catalogId=10002&categoryId=11776&langId=-1&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&N=0&Nu=pProductID&Nr=OR%28pStoreID%3A10051%2CpStoreID%3A10601%2CpStoreID%3A10052%29&Ntk=All_Shopping&Ntt=princess+costume&selectedOption=All+of+Disney+Shopping&D=princess+costume&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Dr=OR%28pStoreID%3A10051%2CpStoreID%3A10601%2CpStoreID%3A10052%29&Dn=0&lid=search_submit
Can I borrow her tiara?
Yes, my daughter is into this. Disney has done an excellent job wiht this program.
Just last weekend, we bought her some princess shoes that light up. I have a cute picture of her on my desktop showing her holding the box of shoes and wearing her “snow white” sun glasses. I tell you, she is my very own Paris Hilton. -SB
I mean, er, awesome thoughts, Liz – I need some time to think about this!
hey, i adore paris. she is funny and i can’t wait to hear what she does next! x
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