The Disney Corporation raised some eyebrows over the weekend after a sharing a meme featuring its beloved character Pinocchio being brought to life under the tagline: “When someone compliments you, but you’re dead inside.”
“Makes no difference who you are,” Disney added in a cryptic message.
“Damn Disney u ok?” asked BuzzFeed’s David Mack — one of many blue-check Twitter blue users who fretted that all might not be well in the House of Mouse.
https://twitter.com/Disney/status/983089438287855616
Needless to say, the tweet from Disney’s official Twitter account appeared off-brand for a company whose stock and trade has delivering family-friendly content through its beloved animated characters.
Reps for Disney did not immediately respond to request for comment from TheWrap about why this tweet was launched or what it could mean.
But that didn’t stop commenters on social media from speculating for why the company would embrace such a dark meme.
“I for one think it’s great that disney is leaning into nihilism as a social media content strategy,” wrote one Twitter user.
Another said, “I hope this means we are getting a hot topic disney store.”
Read more of the online reactions below.
damn disney u ok? https://t.co/bRAuv1eerH
— David Mack (@davidmackau) April 9, 2018
https://twitter.com/sarayasin/status/983137165583507456
— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) April 9, 2018
https://twitter.com/mekosoff/status/983102628564557824
Now this is a Disney I can get behind https://t.co/sVKI0h9iy1
— Vanessa Santos (@Vanessasantosxo) April 9, 2018
You ok Disney? https://t.co/VZP6hvmLnZ
— Chad Felix Greene 🇮🇱 (@chadfelixg) April 9, 2018
Ummm that’s rather dark for Disney. https://t.co/3J8p6bZ0eN
— Rita Panahi (@RitaPanahi) April 9, 2018
This is… very un-Disney?
— Ryan Brown ???? (@Toadsanime) April 8, 2018