Pros and cons of social media

Image: Disney

Social media is a double edged sword for the Walt Disney Company in terms of character integrity. In some instances, social media is used as a free marketing platform. Without Disney putting in any additional effort, hundreds of thousands of Instagram users are out there daily promoting its theme parks, and telling even more followers about how good of a time they had there. Conversely, social media has been the source of blame for many problems that have come up with character integrity in the past decade or so.

Unfortunately, the biggest culprits in the demise of character integrity, especially in social media are Disney fans themselves. While not entirely their fault, some fans are simply ignorant to the idea of character integrity and they genuinely have no idea that they are doing anything wrong. Even more unfortunate however are the fans who are well aware of character integrity, but oppose the idea of it anyway.

If you’ve ever heard of “Spieling Peter,” or read a comment on a photo stating, “That’s my favorite Rapunzel!” then you’ve seen character integrity fail right in front of you on social media. “Spieling Peter,” is an unofficial nickname fans visiting Disneyland have given to a certain friend of Peter Pan based on their interactions with him in the park. While doing this may seem harmless enough, this is actually a serious problem as it violates the “rule of one.” If there is really only one Peter Pan, then who exactly is Spieling Peter? Pointing out a “favorite” friend of a character causes the same problem-- how can one have a favorite when there is only one of that character to begin with?

Friends of characters are actually able to post pictures of themselves hanging out with a character on social media, they just need to be careful with the wording of captions and comments, and how they portray themselves. A social media page with your own profile picture, and real name, with a couple of pictures of you “spending the day” with a Disney character for instance is totally acceptable. A page named for Gaston with photos stating that the person is in fact Gaston, would be a violation of the terms that were agreed to upon hire. Typically cast members make wise decisions in their use of social media, however they must always be on the lookout for commenters who may disregard character integrity.

Image: Disney

The flipside of the fan with good intentions who just happens to be uninformed about character integrity is the fan who just disregards the entire idea, which can also be especially harmful on social media. Friends of characters have a particularly difficult time with this, as they try their best to uphold character integrity while sometimes finding themselves at the mercy of commenters on the internet who seemingly have no problem outing them. The guests who do not care to preserve character integrity in the first place can be even more problematic when visiting the parks.

Any cast member who has worked in a Disney park anywhere close to a character meet and greet has probably had at least one instance of being asked things like, “How hot do you think it is for the guy in the suit?” or “This line’s really long, why don’t you just get another Elsa out here?” or even the straightforward, “How many Mickeys are here?” While cast members are trained to handle these kinds of questions, guests around the person asking the question were probably not expecting to overhear someone having this kind of conversation, especially while they are in line to meet one of the characters with their children.