12.3 "What Disney Says": Young Girls, Dress, and The Disney Princesses 

This article written by Jeanne Marie Iorio starts off with her experience visiting to a preschool and in the process meeting two four-year-old girls that began a conversation with her. It started with them first asking who she was, then quickly went to would she like to play princesses with them. She then asked them what princesses was and their response was “What Disney says”. A few days later after the conversation, she reflected on the conversation and realized she was actually disturbed by how the little girls were creating what it means to be a girl in terms of a large corporation meaning Disney. She decided to explore the presence of princess and its marketing impact on retail. She found that “princess” clothing and marketing impose on children what it means to be a young girl in our current society. Iorio states that corporations like Disney, paints an image of what a young girl should look like or be, which is not necessarily fair to children that either don’t want to wear the clothing or just can’t afford it. Disney markets their products to their consumers, children, and instead empowering the children, they choose first to make a profit. She then goes on to give many other examples of how disney markets and so on. 

We related it to retail and marketing within public fantasy because, the author talked about Disney and how they market their clothing and how they display in their windows specific colors or certain princesses. For example, she mentioned how

Disney’s mannequins in their window displays are headless because they want children to picture themselves as that princess or whatever character it may be. It relates to public fantasy because the chapter talked about how consumers walk into a store and imagine themselves in all sorts of dress styles for many different roles. The chapter also uses an example of how you can display royal blue in a store window to attract customers, and once they are in, they are free to creatively imagine themselves in different looks.

We also related it to fantastic socialization, which is described as dressing in roles that could not be realistically played in the future. By having the influence of a princess as a young girl, they grow up believing that they can to become a princess and live like one. Although dressing like a princess could be good for the imagination, it also affects young girls’ identity. l wants to become a princess because it is what they really want to become, or if they are being influenced by society and following what is popular. Disney princesses do not just target the lives of young girls, but also the adults. Becoming a princess is something girls always dream of, no matter the age. Disney princesses have also influenced women’s perception of getting married by having wedding dresses influenced by different Disney princesses. Every girl just wants to feel like a princess, even if it’s just for one day.