Chapter 17- Advertising & Public Relations

The Walt Disney Company's specialty is in entertainment and animation, the two areas do well in the global market, just because a company has its strengths doesn't mean its going to sell its product without advertising. Advertising is essential, without advertising we wouldn't know about half the products we use.  Disney uses product advertising which is a form of advertisement that praises the benefits of a specific good or service. To advertise a product, a company must first select an advertising appeal which identifies a reason for a person to buy a product. Disney uses the "Fun and Pleasure" appeal to advertise their animated films. The company must choose a style to execute their message. Disney uses the "Mood and Image" executional style for advertising which builds a mood or image around the product such as love, happiness, or inspiration. Like whenever you feel a certain emotion after watching a Disney Trailer, that is the tactics working on the aduience.

After Walt Disney has established how they are going to advertise, they must determine what type of media will best communicate the benefits of their product or service to the target audience and how long the advertisment will run. This is called media planning.


Disney advertises through their own radio station (1560 AM Radio Disney), television, internet, and outdoor media. Of course, each media has its advantages and disadvantages, but Disney has such a powerful brand name and history, they end up having more benefits than losses. Due to this image, Disney can sell almost anything by just putting their famous animated characters on the product. To illustrate the prior point, Disney had teamed up with McDonald's and Mattel toy makers, each time Disney came out with a new film they simply let Mattel make toys out of their "Happy Meal" for kids; which brings Disney more fame and customers. As a result, the child would beg their parents to take him or her to the movie theater to watch the new Disney film the child now knows of, just by eating McDonald's.