This is an incredibly boring document written in corporate double-speak. But in PART I, ITEM 1A.;
Risk Factors, it says
“We face risks relating to misalignment with public and consumer tastes and preferences for entertainment, travel and consumer products, which impact demand for our entertainment offerings and products and the profitability of any of our businesses.”
And further down in this section they state:
“Further, consumers’ perceptions of our position on matters of public interest, including our efforts to achieve certain of our environmental and social goals, often differ widely and present risks to our reputation and brands.”
“Misalignment with public and consumer taste.” Hmm. “Achieve certain of our environmental and social goals.” Well, well.
So when five or six of your movies are duds and you lose a billion or a billion and half dollars, it turns out your shareholders start to notice. Imagine that! How judgmental! How crassly materialistic! So uncool!
Well, I guess they’ll have to figure out how they can align with these philistine parents who don’t want their kids groomed. They must strive to prevent perceptions of their efforts to achieve certain of their environmental and social goals from presenting risks their reputation and brands.
So on one side you have all this blah-blah couching what they do in double-speak.
And then you have South Park cutting to the chase and making it perfectly clear.
I think for the sake of transparency it would be reasonable for Disney to include the South Park Panderverse episode as part of their annual report. After all the public’s opinion is much closer to the South Park opinion than it is to the double-speak version.
Or maybe losing a couple more billion dollars is the preferred route. Time will tell.