Products and characters created and distributed by the Walt Disney Company have played important roles in the popular culture of many countries. In some places Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck comic books and films have been popular since the 1930s; in others, the Disney brand name is only now becoming culturally and economically significant.
'Dazzled by Disney?' presents the result of a major research project which assessed the global expansion and reception of Disney products, including films, television programmes and merchandising. The Global Disney Audiences Project involved analysis of audience reactions to Disney products in eighteen different countries, examining the extensiveness and intensity of their marketing and the ambiguities and the contradictions in the reception of the Disney brand around the world. Not only is this project the first of its kind to study international Disney audiences, but it is one of the few examples of recent research analysing the actual impact of international media products across cultures. In addition to a summary of the project's fascinating results, twelve country profiles provide further depth and explanation of the specific national and cultural contexts for the reception of Disney products.
