What Managers Can Learn from The Little Mermaid (2023) Press Tour.

The 2023 live-action version of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” has had a press run that has touched my heart in ways that are filled with lessons for the most well intentioned people managers.

In 2019, Halle Bailey was cast as Ariel with a significant backlash that has lasted since then through the movie’s current theatrical run. “The Little Mermaid (2023)”, similar to other live-action remakes including “Beauty and The Beast,” “Aladdin,” and “Mulan,” is a production of Walt Disney Pictures. The press tour for “The Little Mermaid (2023)” feels marketed differently from other press tours for Disney productions like the newest Star Wars films and television series.

First, let’s look at how Disney (and its creators) have dealt with past press tours that faced similar backlash and what managers can learn. In 2012, Disney acquired Lucasfilm, the company that brought us the Star Wars franchise including the Episodes: 7: The Force Awakens (2015), 8: The Last Jedi (2017), and 9: The Rise of Skywalker (2019). In those 3 films, John Boyega, a British actor of Nigerian heritage, and Kelly Marie Tran, an American actress of Vietnamese heritage, were featured performers who were subject to intense racism and misogny online. Disney, the parent company, did very little to address the online vitriol and the actors were…