Disney Having Problems

                                                                                                                                                                        Vol. XI, No. 7, August 1998

A number of Wall Street analysts have cut their profit forecasts for Disney, Bloomberg Financial Markets News reported June 19. Among them: Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs & Co, whose analysts are among "the most respected media analysts on Wall Street," Bloomberg reported. TIME magazine reported June 15: "After a long run as one of the brightest stars in the Dow (Jones) firmament, the company's stock has slipped 10 percent in the past month." A variety of causes were cited in reports by TIME, Bloomberg and Reuters, but none cited any effect of the Disney boycott by the Southern Baptist Convention, Assemblies of God, American Family Association, and other religious groups. The boycott was launched by the AFA in 1995 and bolted into national prominence when the SBC joined it in 1997. "This proves the boycott is working," said Donald Wildmon, AFA's founder and president. "Disney is seeing some erosion in its theme park attendance and in the numbers of people going to see the company's movies. "But remember, this is a protracted battle with Disney," Wildmon said. "This boycott will continue for years to come, until the world's most influential entertainment company stops poisoning our culture."

    As cited by various analysts in the Bloomberg and Reuters news reports, the factors dogging Disney include:

    -- "disappointing," "weaker-than-expected" box office performances by recent Disney-subsidiary films, including "The Horse Whisperer" starring Robert Redford.

    -- "softer-than-expected" or only "modest gains" in Disney World attendance in Florida.

    -- Disney's ABC television network, which as Bloomberg described it, "continues to struggle with a sharp decline in its ratings."

    -- "softness in sales of consumer products," as Bloomberg put it.

    -- "a difficult international marketplace," as one analyst put it, with another citing Disney's "softness" overseas, especially in Japan and Europe.

    Richard Land, president of the SBC's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, noted, "...where Disney is being impacted is precisely in the area where a boycott by evangelical Christians -- the former family oriented base of Disney's empire -- would make the most impact, namely soft revenue in consumer products, the theme parks, movies and ABC."

    "If we weren't hurting Disney," Land noted, "Mr. Eisner wouldn't still be attacking us as he did when he compared us to Nazis on the 'Today' show. This should encourage us to stay the course and keep doing the right thing. At the very least, this decline in Disney's profitability will limit their ability to produce as much of the highly offensive material as they have been producing." [BP]

[Note: This is encouraging progress. Keep up the boycott of all Disney products. TCP]