Share Your Ears

This year, to coincide with the celebration of Disneyland’s 60^th anniversary, Disney ran a campaign along side the Make-A-Wish Foundation to raise money and celebrate their 100,000 Disney related wish granted. The campaign was simple. For every photo shared on social media, Disney would donate $5 to Make-A-Wish. Disney pledged that the Company would donate up to one million dollars to the charity throughout this campaign. Because of the overwhelming response to this campaign, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts double the amount donate and gave a total of two million dollars to Make-A-Wish.

Fans of Disney were invited to share photos of Mickey Mouse ears to the social media platforms twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #ShareYourEars and by using the photo frame on Facebook. If fans did not have Mickey Mouse ears they were still invited to make their own out of anything they had. Each photo unlocked a $5 donation to the charity. The campaign ran from January 29, 2016 to March 14, 2016. In addition to the online campaign, Disney gave portions of the proceeds of Disneyland’s 60^th celebration ears to the charity. Disney also made an exclusive dazzled ear hat and two exclusive Disney experiences as a part of the Make-A-Wish sweepstakes. Bob Chapek, a chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts said, “We’re thrilled that so many of our guests, fans, and cast members supported Make-A-Wish by sharing their ears and joining Walt Disney Parks and Resorts in making even more children’s wishes come true.” The Facebook post made by Disneyland can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/Disneyland/videos/10153973562240742/

                       

Make-A-Wish grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength, and joy. Make-A-Wish is the world’s largest wish-granting organization. They serve children and families in nearly fifty countries on five continents and grants, on average, a wish every twenty-one minutes. Since its founding in 1980, the wish granting organization has granted over 350,000 wishes to children around the world and about 8,000 of these wishes each year are Disney related. This includes any experience at a Disney theme park, voyages on the Disney Cruise Line, meet and greets with specific characters, and visits to the sets of TV shows and movies. Disney is the most popular request by Make-A-Wish children. As a former cast member, I can say that being a small part of their trip is an honor and a privilege. There is not recorded amount of photos from the entire campaign however we can determine that it was at least 200,000 photos shared. The campaign was successful not only because of the amount of money raised but because of the outpour of support and reach the campaign had.

Original story: http://wish.org/content/disney/share-your-ears?cid=WBST-SHAREYOUREARS-MICROSITE#sm.0000w3cg1i53tep7q2l16xpt9p0u0

-Elizabeth B.