Like 12-Year-Olds In Underwear? Disney’s Underwear Campaign In China Is Right Up Your Alley

Slate writer Daniel Brook thinks Disney’s outrage over Miley Cyrus’ recent Vanity Fair photo shoot might be slightly disingenuous, considering an underwear campaign they had in China, featuring a pretty sexualized image of a pre-teen:

I was walking from my Beijing bed-and-breakfast to a nearby subway station when I was stopped in my tracks by a billboard that made the controversial 1990s Calvin Klein underwear ads look artistic by comparison. Staring down at the throngs of shoppers on Beijing’s Xinjiekou Nandajie Avenue, a busy commercial thoroughfare about a mile west of the Forbidden City, was a white girl who looked all of 12, reclining in a matching bra-and-panties set adorned with Disney’s signature mouse-ear design. In a particularly creepy detail, the pigtailed child was playing with a pair of Minnie Mouse hand puppets. In the upper left-hand corner was the familiar script of the Disney logo.

Nothing gets us going like a toddler in Mickey ears. When called out on the ad, however, Disney was like “We totally don’t think that’s hot. And luscious. And tender:”

McTeague passed on commenting and forwarded the image to Gary Foster, a spokesman for Disney’s consumer-products division. He called me from a business trip (to China) to disavow the ad. “It has caught us totally by surprise,” Foster told me by phone from Guangzhou. He explained that Disney contracts with a host of licensees, who produce and market products for the Disney brand. Foster said that licensees are contractually bound to clear all advertising with Disney’s corporate offices. “We have literally hundreds of licensees making our products. They are supposed to submit any kind of imagery to us before it is used, but it’s hard to enforce that sometimes,” he said.

Foster said he didn’t know which ad agency prepared the ad, how old the model was, or where the photo shoot took place. But he was sure it was the work of a Disney licensee: Shanghai Zhenxin Garments Co. Ltd., which makes underwear for girls and teens. China is notorious for its intellectual-property pirates, and Disney is a frequent victim, with people illegally slapping the Disney name and logo on items all the time. Could this have been the case with the billboard, I asked Foster. “No. Unfortunately not this time,” he replied. He assured me the billboard would be removed immediately.

Which is kind of beside the point, really. It’s easy to pass off blame for this particular to some other group or company or team of people but, ultimately, someone’s got to ask why so many people would have gotten together to create, approve and distribute an image that is, pretty obviously, extremely problematic. Personally, we blame parents. Like, in general. A lot of the people working behind this image have or will have children. And they kind of put their well-being aside every time they come together to create and promote an image like this. And, of course, children don’t buy their own underwear. They might look at this image and think, “I want to look hot!” but they’re not, ultimately, the ones who fork over the cash and who filter media messages and peer pressure for their child’s consumption. We also blame Mickey Mouse because he’s a money-hungry pig. Rodent. Thing.

Mickey Mouse Operation [Slate]