In what can essentially be read as the House of Mouse ‘throwing up the white flag’ in regards to their recent culture battles, new reports indicate that in light of Donald Trump’s re-election to the office of the President of the United States, Disney is now undertaking a sweeping reform of their DEI initiatives, beginning with the content warnings used on Disney Plus and the controversial ‘Reimagine Tomorrow’ campaign.
Word of Disney’s change in operations was first reported on February 11th courtesy of Axios‘ Sara Fischer.
Having supposedly first learned the information from her insider sources, Fischer revealed that not only was Disney “moving and changing the content disclaimers it started releasing around certain titles in 2020”, but that the company would also be “changing its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs to focus more closely on business outcomes”
In terms of the former item, as mandatorily presented ahead of any and all Disney Plus offerings whose content contains portrayals of outdated racial stereotypes, said content warnings would warn viewers that “This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes are wrong then and are wrong now.”
“Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together,” it continued, as presented ahead of such films as Peter Pan, The Aristocats, and Swiss Family Robinson. “Disney is committed to creating stories with inspirational and aspirational themes that reflect the rich diversity of the human experience around the globe.”
These warnings would then ultimately conclude with an invitation for viewers “to learn more about how stores have impacted society” by visiting their Stories Matter section of their official website, which prior to its removal as part of this culture shift contained various explanations regarding a given film’s offending content.
But as of February 11th, while the content warnings still remain, their wording has been rolled back to its less grandiose, pre-2020 text, the streaming service now simply informing viewers that “This program is presented as originally created and may contain stereotypes or negative depictions.”
Further, Disney has also moved to shutter the doors on their Reimagine Tomorrow effort.
First launched in 2021, the DEI-specific initiative sought to educate company employees on such critical theory-drenched topics as “systemic racism,” “white privilege,” “white fragility,” “white saviors,” “microaggressions,” and “antiracism.”
As an example of the Reimagine Tomorrow’s curriculum, in one module, Disney declares that not only must potential racial allies – and specifically white ones – embrace “discomfort and humility”, but they must also challenge colorblind ideologies and rhetoric as “All Lives Matter” or “I don’t see color”.
The module further asserted that non-black employees must “not question or debate Black colleagues’ lived experiences.”
In a memo sent to employees, as obtained by both Axios and Variety, the latter of whom would eventually share it with the public, Disney Chief Human Resources Officer Sonia Coleman provided further details regarding the company’s active curve away from corporate DEI initiatives.
“For over 100 years, Disney has entertained and inspired generations of families from all walks of life around the world. We create entertainment that appeals to a global audience, and having a workforce that reflects the consumers we serve helps drive our business. With more than 230,000 dedicated employees and Cast Members in more than 40 countries across six continents, Disney has long believed that the rich variety of talents and experiences our employees bring to their work is good for our business and enhances the experience of our global consumers, audiences, and guests.
Creating a welcoming and respectful environment for our employees and guests is core to our company culture and our business. Our values — integrity, creativity, collaboration, community, inclusion — guide our actions and how we treat each other. Today I want to provide an update on how our values are embedded in our leader compensation programs, specifically our Other Performance Factors (OPFs), as well as share some of the work that has been underway to evolve our talent strategy consistent with these values.
Other Performance Factors (OPFs): Beginning this fiscal year, we are adding a new “Talent Strategy” factor to our executive compensation planning. This factor will assess how leaders uphold our company values, incorporate different perspectives to drive business success, cultivate an environment where all employees can thrive, and sustain a robust pipeline to ensure long-term organizational strength. This new factor represents an evolution of important concepts in the former Diversity & Inclusion OPF and will be used alongside our other two OPFs, “Storytelling & Creativity” and “Synergy.”
As many of you know, we have spent the last year partnering with stakeholders across the company to discuss the evolution of our strategic framework for advancing our commitment to being welcoming, respectful, and inclusive in how we operate so we are the best place to work. The resulting framework — which we released in December — is designed to align our initiatives with our business goals and company values, centered around four key pillars:
People: We reach and attract the best, most talented people around the world and foster barrier-free talent processes for everyone.
Culture: We purposefully champion a culture where everyone belongs and can contribute to our business success.
Market Reach: We create unforgettable stories, experiences, and products that entertain and resonate globally.
Community: We learn from and support under-served communities by establishing and investing in impactful relationships with organizations and business stakeholders.
As we developed this new framework, we looked at ways to enhance our programs and practices to strengthen our workplace environment, in service of our business. While some of you are already familiar with what’s new, we wanted to highlight some of the key developments:
New Online Destination: In December, we added our new framework to our corporate Impact website and the Belong hub on MyDisneyToday, with a focus on our above pillars and continued progress. This new framework, rooted in our efforts to enhance our employee experience, marks the evolution of the significant work done with Reimagine Tomorrow and succeeds that branding.
Employee Groups: Last year, we began the process of unifying and streamlining our global enterprise-wide Belonging Employee Resource Groups (BERGs) structure, and rebranded the “B” in BERG from “Business” to “Belonging” to highlight that our employee groups’ role is focused on strengthening our employee community and workplace experience.
While this will continue to evolve, what won’t change is our commitment to fostering a company culture where everyone belongs and everyone can excel, enabling us to deliver the globally appealing entertainment that drives our business.”
Notably, Disney’s new policy change comes just days after the aforementioned President Trump re-took office and issued an executive order calling for the immediate ending of “Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing“.
And though his order does not pertain to Disney directly, as they are not a government entity, their recent moves have undoubtedly been informed by a new realization that with the change in administration, ‘DEI’ programs are now bad for business.