Disneyization

France is a place rich in wine and food. Paris is one of the world's best place to visit for good food and delicate cuisines. However, through globalization, American ideologies has been injected into the French society. It is losing its identity to American disney figures and fast food outlets. The example of McDonalds will be used to portray the disneyization in France. There are thousands of Mcdonalds outlets in France and Mcdonalds is planning to expand its reach throughout Europe in the next few years.





Disneyization is stated as the process by which the principles of Disney theme parks dominate sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world. There are 4 main aspects to disneyization, namely, theming, hybrid consumption, merchandising and performative labour.

Theming

* clothing institutions or objects in a narrative that is largely unrelated to the institution or object to which it is applied, such as a casino or restaurant with a Wild West narrative

In 2001, McDonald's planned to open 30-40 new outlets a year in France. McDonald's has also claimedd to be the leading restaurant chain in France. Paris, France, is the gastronomical capital of the world! It is the place to be for food fanatics. Mcdonalds is unrelated to any of the fancy French cuisines and delicacies. Therefore it fulfills the theming aspect of disneyization.


Performative Labour

* the growing tendency for frontline service work to be viewed as a performance, especially one in which the deliberate display of a certain mood is seen as part of the labour involved in service work.

Serving hundreds of customers daily, Mcdonalds cashiers are required to be smiling and taking orders at the same time. Since they serve so many customers, the cashiers have to be fast and efficient to keep the waiting time short. Thus, they have a standardized routine speech to ask customers which are repeated for every customers.

Hybrid Consumption

* a general trend whereby the forms of consumption associated with different institutional spheres become interlocked with each other and increasingly difficult to distinguish;

Mcdonalds requires all its staff to be clad in Mcdonalds uniform and attire. The uniform is also constant throughout all Mcdonalds outlets. Therefore, it is hard to differentiate a Mcdonalds outlet in Paris from a Mcdonalds outlet in Russia. With this, France might be losing their sense of identity and culture due to exposure to foreign culture.


Merchandising

* the promotion and sale of goods in the form of or bearing copyright images and/or logos, including such products made under licence;

As we all know Ronald McDonald is the famous Mcdonalds mascot. However in France, the Mcdonalds mascot was replaced in its French advertisements by Asterix. Asterix is a French comic-strip character who stands for Gallic individuality and symbolises local resistance to imperial forces. A survey conducted in 2003 revealed that Asterix was the favourite cartoon character of 53% of French people. The mascot was changed from Ronald Mcdonald to Asterix in hope to gain support from the French locals. Below is a picture of the French Mcdonalds mascot, Asterix.

Asterix