Normally, Jim Hill’s predicament wouldn’t raise an eyebrow. But since his adversary is The Walt Disney Company-a business hamstrung by years of negative publicity…
… even the action Disney took against Hill has made headlines and prompted outcries of indignation.
To call Hill, who runs Jim Hill Media, a Disney fan is an understatement. His travel agency offers tours to various Disney properties. Much of his blog deals with Disneyana. And, for years, Hill has been giving unauthorized tours of Disneyland. For $25 a pop, visitors to the Anaheim theme park listen to Hill tell tales that aren’t part of the official Disney guided tours.
In a March 21 post on his blog, Hill tells the tale of his explusion from the park. It seems the folks at Disney didn’t like the idea that Hill was on their property making money from tours when Disney provides their own tour guides.
Needless to say, I was somewhat surprised by this reaction. As were the 10 or so people who were taking my 2 o’clock tour and watching all of this unfold from 5 feet away. I mean, yes, the JHM Disneyland tour does contain a few juicy stories. Which is why Chuck Oberleitner once called it “The E’ True Hollywood version of Disneyland’s history.” But is that really reason enough to shut the tour down?
To be honest, I’m not sure. I can’t help but think that the First Amendment sort-of, kind-of covers this issue. The right to tell somewhat embarassing stories about the Mouse. That’s somewhere in the Constitution … isn’t it?
Well, that’s clearly not how Disneyland Security sees it. The next thing I know, I’ve got an Anaheim police detective advising me that-should I decide to continue with my tour-the park’s security staff could have me escorted off property. Worse yet, they could have me arrested. Which-to my way of thinking, anyway-wasn’t exactly the best way to end my day at “The Happiest Place on Earth.”
A Disney spokesman reminded the press, who picked up on the story, that Disneyland is private property and Hill’s tours were no different than someone setting up his own T-shirt stand inside the park. Still, this is the company that couldn’t get decent press these days if it cured cancer. The shareholder battles over CEO Michael Eisner’s tenure, tales of employee treatment, bad business decisions (like failing to re-negotiate a contract with animation studio Pixar), a less-than-flattering book (James B. Stewart’s “Disney War“) and a host of other stories have plagued the company for years.
So Hill’s blog post earned sympathetic comments from readers and his story wound up in newspapers across the country. A few posts sided with Disney. Interestingly, some made some excellent public relations points, like this one:
Well Jim, whether you like it or not (and I suspect that you just might secretly like it), you are now going to be a PR and guest relations nightmare for Disneyland. All thanks to this wonderful technology called the internet. Once again the WDC has shown it’s amazing ability for stupidity. Let’s see…. we could quietly investigate the “complaint” and then proceed from there and keep things low key OR we could make it a very public and noticeable situation, honk you off, and then let you go to write about it on your website on Monday morning.
Or this far more succinct comment: “Their property, their rules. They are pretty dumb to invoke their rules in that fashion, but c’est la guerre.” And then there was this assertion: “Somebody needs some lessons in PR!”
Astute observations from non-PR professionals. If Universal Studios had taken the same action, nobody would have noticed-even with posts to the Internet. Universal is not embroiled in a day-to-day public relations nightmare. Disney, on the other hand, can’t catch a break even when they name a new CEO earlier than expected (shareholder activists Stanley Gold and Roy Disney aren’t happy with the choice). Given the microscope under which Disney operates these days, it would have made sense to deal with Hill’s activities with more discretion.
What other options did Disney have? A quiet conversation with Hill is one. Offering him a job is another. Now hill plans to sell audio tours from the comfort of him home; visitors to the park will be able to listen on CD players or digital media devices. And he’s got plenty of publicity to help his sales. It’s a cautionary tale for any company already in the glare of bad publicity: Everything you do, even when you’re right, can add to your woes. Always keep the reputational impact of such actions in mind as a guide to your decision-making.
Shel Holtz is principal of Holtz Communication + Technology which focuses on helping organizations apply online communication capabilities to their strategic organizational communications.
As a professional communicator, Shel also writes the blog a shel of my former self.