Disneyization in New Zealand

1. WHAT IS DISNEYIZATION?

The book "Disneyization of Society" written by Alan Bryman defines Disneyization as:

"the process by which the principles of the Disney theme parks are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world."

More and more aspects of our society are exhibiting features that are associated with Disney theme parks. Thus, it becomes a lens through which the nature of modern society can be viewed, as well as a way of thinking about issues to do with consumption and globalisation.
There are four dimensions to disneyization and they are:

· Theming
Theming is the most obvious dimension of disneyization. Theming offers consumers the opportunity to be entertained and to enjoy the novel experiences. The more standardized services and places become, the more important theming becomes as a mechanism of differentiation.
Examples of theming includes: Amusement parks, restaurants, McDonald’s, themed shopping, museum, etc.

· Hybrid Consumption
A general trend whereby the forms of consumption associated with different institutional spheres becomes interlocked with each other and increasingly difficult to distinguish. The rationale is that the more consumption items are fixed, the longer people will stay in the venue to which they have been attracted to in the first place.
Examples of Hybrid Consumption includes: Hotels and casinos, theme parks, shopping and restaurants, etc.

· Merchandising
This refers to the promotion and sale of goods in the form of bearing copyright images, including products made under license. It has strong affinities with hybrid consumption. It attracts further revenue from an image that has already attracted people.
Examples of Merchandising includes: Merchandising at Disney, themed restaurants and themed hotels.

· Performative Labour
Rendering of work by managements and employees alike as akin to a theatrical performance in which the workplace is construed as similar to a stage. It uses emotional labour whereby employees as part of their work, need to convey emotions and preferably to appear as it is deeply held. The rationale of it is closely linked to the quality of the service or the goods being supplied in the course of a service transaction.
Examples of Performative Labour includes: Airline Cabin Crews, shop workers, telephone call centres

2. DISNEYIZATION IN NEW ZEALAND SHOPPING MALLS

2.1 THEMING

Enclosed

Disneyland is an enclosed theme park as it creates the ambience to make people feel like they are in another world.
Shopping malls in New Zealand are also enclosed. This is from a view of a shopping mall manager: ‘I think to have an enclosed shopping centre is pretty crucial to flow and to how the centre will track. It creates that ambience. If you don’t have an enclosed environment there is no ambience’. By having an enclosed shopping mall, visitors can step into another world just like stepping into Disneyland.

Seasonal Theming

Christmas is unquestionably the most popular season. There will always be Christmas trees and Santa Claus appearing in every mall. Huge amount of money are spend on creating the Christmas ambience in shopping malls to attract visitors in and get into the Christmas spirit by purchasing things. Thousands of dollars are spent on an annual basis fitting out New Zealand shopping malls in an attempt to get visitors into the Christmas spirit.

2.2 PERFORMATIVE LABOUR
Wherever we are, staffs we meet are often taught on their choice of words, the way they should look and also what should wear. These are all efforts to visitors feel comfortable and eventually spend more.

Wherever you go in Disneyland, there will always be staff greeting you with a wide smile. This is from the Disney institute where they learned that ‘you never get a second chance to make a first impression’.

The cast members of Disneyland are obliged to go through thorough classes about the art of performative labour at Disney University. It coaches them the proper concepts and behaviour of a cast member.

In New Zealand shopping malls, the encouragement of purchase is done by individual retailers and the management cannot really step in and run the show. What the management does is that they perform customer service and are planning to have a concierge desk with people randomly walking around giving lollies.

2.3 HYBRID CONSUMPTION

MusicIn Disneyland, one can observe that there is a programmed sound with a range of themed music repeating everywhere in the park. Speakers can be found all around the park. Disney entrepreneurs reform visitors’ mood to their ideal (anticipation and pleasurable) by using music. Even when one is not in the theme park, as long as they Disney theme music is heard, one would relate it to Disneyland and subconsciously, have the urge to return there.


In New Zealand shopping malls, music can be heard upon entrance just like Disneyland. Disneyland uses music to alter the mood of visitors whereas music used in shopping malls influences how we think as it is a type of audio merchandising and subconsciously, it tells us to buy. Linking it to hybrid consumption, which states that it is used to increase the consumption of visitors, New Zealand's shopping malls in this case display the dimension of hybrid consumption as music is used to raise expenditures.


Northlands Shopping Centre in Christchurch has a fairly huge mix of "institutional spheres", such as multiplex cinema, time zone arcade game area, flight simulator, restaurant and bar, food court, two supermarkets, hair and beauty salon, two banks and an excess amount of retail stores.

2.4 MERCHANDISING
Disney offers a lot of exclusive merchandise with their logo on it. Visitors who buy it usually do not use it when they are back in their country. Just like the t-shirt on the left, bearing the Disney logo. How often do we actually see people wearing them? They are often bought as it a shouts out to people that"This is where I have been!"

The people who purchase all these souvenirs often link their purchase to part of their esteem as it is usually seen as prestige.

Merchandising has successfully created the feeling of longing whereby consumers pay for something they do not actually need.





3. DISNEYIZATION IN THE CASE OF MAORI

This can be seen in the Maori culture as Maori is unique to New Zealand.

Tourists usually purchase Maori related souvenirs as it is exclusive to them. Even though some of these souvenirs may have the signs of Maori culture, but they are not related to it at all. Just like the Russian dolls with the Maori whanau on the left. Please click here for more information.

4. DISNEYIZATION IN THE CASE OF ALL BLACKS
MERCHANDISING
Merchandising uses the logo or copyrighted image to promote a certain product and it can be seen in the case of the All Blacks team.

All Blacks is the national rugby team of New Zealand and they are look up upon to. The locals are supportive of the team and are excited with anything related to them. Adidas took the chance to produce merchandise that has the All Blacks logo printed on it. Locals are drawn to the product as it shows that support and admiration to them. In this case, profits are earned using the logo of All Blacks.

5. DISNEYIZATION IN NEW ZEALAND FESTIVALS

HYBRID CONSUMPTION
Disneyland: As we all know, besides having entertainment, Disney theme parks consist of an abundance of restaurants and souvenir shops. All these make Disneyland an all-inclusive theme park where tourists can stay longer and at the same time spend more money there.

Festivals: As I have mentioned in my previous post about festivals in New Zealand, the New Zealand International Arts Festival attracts a high amount of tourists every year. These tourists that are motivated to visit New Zealand because of the festival are at the same time swayed to experience whatever is there. E.g. Maori culture, skiing, food, etc.

In this case, the primary purpose of the tourists is to attend the festival but because of the rest of the tourism product available there, they in some way consume it at the same time.

6. DISNEYIZATION IN NEW ZEALAND THEME PARK
PERFORMATIVE LABOUR
Disneyland: As I have mentioned above, the staff in the Disney theme parks often put up a superficial front so as to represent the spirit of Disney.

Rainbow's End: This is a premier theme park in New Zealand. Just like Disneyland have the adventure park and space mountain, Rainbow's End have themes such as Enchanted Forest and Chalet Village. The park mascots like Rai and Bow have to convey the park spirit and spread it to the visitors.






7. CONCLUSION
Disneyization has been proved to earn Disney theme parks world recognition and economic benefits. As we have seen above, New Zealand has also incorporated the different dimensions of disneyization in various forms. This has helped them to better market themselves as a tourist destination and generate higher revenue.