Disney+ removed several movies, including Dumbo and Peter Pan, from children’s profiles over stereotypes deemed offensive.
The move comes after Disney placed warnings on certain children’s movies for “negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people and cultures.” For Dumbo, Disney said “The crows and musical number pay homage to racist minstrel shows, where white performers with blackened faces and tattered clothing imitated and ridiculed enslaved Africans…” With Peter Pan, they said “The film portrays Native people in a stereotypical manner that reflects neither the diversity of Native peoples nor their authentic cultural traditions.” Disney has also put warnings on several episodes of the Muppet Show including one with Johnny Cash performing infront of a Confederate flag.
Disney is not the only group finding the need to self-censod, Dr. Seuss Enterprises has decided to stop publishing several Dr. Seuss books. Some of the of the titles selected to be discontinued are: “And To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” and “On Beyond Zebra!” with Dr. Seuss Enterprises saying “These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.”
Another children’s product that has made a preemptive change was Hasbro changing their toy line name from “Mr. Potato Head” to “Potato Head” to be more gender inclusive.
Non-child centric companies like Unilever, the parent company of Dove Soap, has also made a change. In a statement they said they will be removing the word “normal” from all labels to be more inclusive.
Ice cream brand “Brigham’s” has also made a change, from saying “Just Jimmies” to “Just Sprinkles” on their cartons as “Jimmies” can be perceived as a racist word.
