A Walt Disney World Advertisement

The family vacation is an American tradition. Thinking and planning for this adventure captures the imaginations of thousands of families each year. While parents and children may disagree over what constitutes the ideal vacation, there is no question about there being a family vacation. Savvy entrepreneurs are aware of this fact and spend millions of dollars in advertisements to capitalize on the money families spend for family vacations. Most advertisers craftily market to children, believing that children, through coercion (whining), can get their parents to buy what they want (see advertised on television). The Walt Disney World advertisement, however, takes a different approach by marketing to the entire family. The Disney advertisement is extremely effective, appealing to both the parents’ and children’s sense of wonder and excitement, while also making an emotional appeal to the parents’ sense of value.

The caption of the Walt Disney World advertisement in Family Circle magazine reads: “Pretend your family is on the most magical vacation ever.” The first picture in the advertisement shows a larger- than-life Mickey Mouse happily greeting a young girl with pig tails in her hair. The girl’s eyes are wide with excitement and disbelief. The imagery in this picture brings on wonder and fantasy: the background is softly blurred with splashes of bright colors and light. In fact, there seems to be a rim of bright sunshine just above the girl’s head. The next picture shows a girl and boy enjoying one of the many rides at Walt Disney World. The feeling that both pictures convey is summarized in the words of the advertisement: “Indeed they had to pinch themselves to make sure it wasn’t a dream.”

The next picture shows a mother being pampered by her husband in a make believe Hollywood scene. This is very effective advertisement because the mother who usually does the pampering and caring is instead being pampered and adored by her family. The caption above this scene reads “Mama got ‘discovered’ in Hollywood, the way she always imagined it would happen.

This advertisement appeals to the parents who are swelled with pride to be able to fulfill their children’s dreams. One caption reads “They dreamt of fairytale characters that came to life and embraced with a hug”. This shows parents that Disney wants to do the same as the parents, when it comes to their children.