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Subliminal Messaging and The Disney Corporation |
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Maryanne Tucker |
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The Lion King |
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The Lion King was also put on the list of offensive subliminal messages after ALL was contacted by Anna Runge a Carthage, New York stay at home mom (Bannon, 1995). Runge claimed that her four-year old nephew pointed out something coming from the lion’s mouth (Ostman, 1996). The something coming from the lion’s mouth turn out to be the letters that distinctly, to Runge, spelt out S-E-X. After viewing the film, and getting her teenagers to outline the subliminal letters out, she stated “I feel as if I’ve left a pedophile with my children” (Bannon, 1995). She immediate threw all of her Disney products in the garbage, hurt and upset at the fact that Disney, who was “almost a member of the family” would do something like this to innocent children (Bannon, 1995). After being informed by Mrs. Runge, ALL thanked her for the new information and promptly published an article about the subject. The subliminal message got mass media attention, when Associated Press picked up the story “that started then avalanche of unwanted publicity for Disney” (Bannon, 1995). Disney’s reacted and claimed that the letters were there, but they were put in by the special effects team, who left it as a kind of calling card, S-F-X (Snopes). Tom Sito also told the authors of Disney: The Mouse Betrayed, a very anti-Disney book, that “Someone on the animation team wanted to leave a little ‘calling card’ in the film” (Pinsky, 2004). Spokesperson Rhoades also shot back on behalf of Disney stating that "It's just ridiculous to think that we'd put out a movie containing something less than a wholesome image" (Smith, 1995). In reaction to the movie’s “sexual message”, ALL spokesperson Tracey Casale stated “The Walt Disney Company claims to be a provider of wholesome family entertainment, but the messages in The Lion King’ is not clean, it is not wholesome, and it is not fun… it has no place in a child’s movie” (Smith, 1995). Casale went on to say that “All of these movies contain something sexual in nature… You can’t help but think that Disney is not what they have portrayed themselves to be” (Smith, 1995). |
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Disney © 1995 |
1995 |
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S.E.X. |
