Miley Virus

Chocolate Granola bars from the “Hannah Montana” food products range have recently been pulled from shelves due to suspected salmonella contamination.

“The Canadian Food Inspection Agency,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle, “issued the recall notice on Friday [March 13, 2009] after officials discovered the snacks contained nut products which were part of the widespread peanut recall that hit the U.S. and Canada earlier this year.”

Bill Marler, an attorney who represents victims in food poisoning cases, posits that Cyrus could potentially be the subject of litigation in China. Marler observes: “China has recently passed a law saying someone who becomes sickened from a product can sue someone who puts their name on the product or is part of the campaign for the product.”

For further details, see the entire article, entitled, “Can I sue Miley Cyrus if her snacks make me sick?”

Disney shareholders do not want say in executive pay

Proposals that would have given Disney shareholders a say in how much the Company’s top executives earn were turned down (receiving 39% of votes).

Lorenzo Ersland, finance director of the Tides Foundation, speaking on behalf of 75 investors backing the “say on pay” initiative, said “Executive pay has spiraled out of control, and it needs the voice of shareholders to bring our board and compensation back to earth.”

It is unclear how Disney used its “pixie dust” to convince shareholders not to have a say in executive compensation. Chairman John E. Pepper simply said that the Board was “very conscious” of the issues surrounding executive pay.

The vote comes after an announcement that Disney CEO Robert Iger received an 11% raise, making his total compensation to $30.6 million in FY 2008.

Disney Go Green! Join the CHEJ at Disney’s annual shareholder meeting

As an earlier post stated, the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ) is working to get Disney to eliminate toxic cleaning products and implement a transparent, green cleaning policy at Walt Disney World.

Please join the CHEJ on March 10, 2009 in Oakland, California at Disney’s annual shareholder meeting. CHEJ along with students, parents, and concerned citizens will be outside the shareholder meeting getting the word out on the importance of a green cleaning policy.

More information about this event and the CHEJ’s Disney Go Green! campaign can be obtained at this website.

Starz Entertainment sues Disney

In March 2007, the Denver Business Journal reported: “Starz Entertainment filed a copyright lawsuit against a Walt Disney subsidiary Thursday for selling ‘Shakespeare in Love,’ ‘Herbie Fully Loaded,’ and other movies over the Internet at the same time they’re licensed exclusively to Starz.”

For more information regarding this litigation, please see the entire article here.

“Is what’s good for Disney good for Anaheim?”

In 1993, the LA Times posed an important question: is what’s good for Disney good for Anaheim? At the time, Disney had requested $800 million dollars for parking structures, freeway off-ramps, sewers, utility line relocation and other public works.

In response, Peter Eisinger, director of LaFollette Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin, argued: “I find it hard to believe there is a compelling argument for a public subsidy.” Eisinger added: Disney “is a proven moneymaker…Why should the city be spending its scarce resources to create minimum-wage jobs?”

As the LA Times put it, “Eight-hundred-million dollars is enough money to staff an entire police department, shelter thousands of homeless or build dozens of schools. So why should the city, state and federal governments invest that spectacular sum to help the Walt Disney Co. build a resort in Anaheim?”

As plans for Disney’s third theme park continue to emerge (see, for instance, this article in the OC Register) Anaheim community members need to keep in mind that it is their tax dollars that might be used to subsidize the magic kingdom’s Third Gate.

Disney’s ‘Hannah Montana’ partners with Wal-Mart

Last year, Wal-Mart stores announced a partnership with Disney for more than 140 products based on the Disney Channel’s wildly popular teen series Hannah Montana, which features teen actress and singer Miley Cyrus. See this USA Today article for details.

Jan Bareis, Marketing VP, suggests that Wal-Mart is the new “Hannah Montana Headquarters.” According to Bareis, Wal-Mart’s licensed goods – which range from food to clothing and even Hannah Montana blond wigs – target girls ages 6 to 14. Wal-Mart, of course, is the largest employer in the US with over one million workers.

According to a report released from UC Berkeley, “Wal-Mart workers receive lower wages than other retail workers and are less likely to have health benefits.” The same report shows that, as a result of low-wages, Wal-Mart employees often rely on public safety net programs such as food stamps, Medi-Cal, and subsidized housing.

Disney’s partnership with Wal-Mart is a match made in heaven: both are multi-billion dollar global corporations who have produced low-wage, poverty jobs while claiming to ‘serve’ American families and children.

‘Mickey Mouse has your number’

Last year, the LA Times reported that “Walt Disney Co. has struck a deal with Verizon Wireless that will allow it to remain in wireless contact with its theme park visitors – even when they step outside the turnstiles in Anaheim and Orlando, FLA.”

Disney and Verizon argue that the technology is a means to enhance “theme park experience,” enabling park goers to use their phones for saving a spot in line or finding Cinderella for a photo.

But the service has broader and potentially controversial implications: the proposed Disney-Verizon technology could potentially be used to invade the privacy of consumers by inundating them with advertisements and messages within and beyond the park.

This means, as the Times comments, that the so-called “Happiest Place on Earth will soon know where in the world you are.”