The petition quickly gained more than 200,000 signatures. AMG thus decided to challenge Disney’s less-than-empowering makeover of princess Merida with an online petition. Within hours, the post received over 800 comments, an overwhelming majority of which were negative. When AMG discovered what Disney had in store for its beloved independent princess, AMG posted it to Facebook. She was a perfect fit for one of their many subcategories, The Ultimate Guide to the Independent Princess, which features an extensive collection of alternatives to the damsel-in-distress trope. The expansive website features “the world’s largest collection of books, toys, movies, music and clothing for parents, teachers and others dedicated to raising smart, confident and courageous girls.” When Brave premiered last year, Danckaert says, A Mighty Girl was excited to include Merida in their list of smart and independent young trailblazers. This quiet response from Disney was reported by some ( including us) as a small victory for protesting fans, but after speaking with Carolyn Danckaert, who launched the campaign, we learned that the fight is far from over.ĭanckaert is the co-founder of an online resource center for girl empowerment called A Mighty Girl (AMG). Since then, Disney has pulled the image of new Merida from its website and replaced her with the original Pixar design. $(this).closest('#at-shortNewsletterFormConfigWrapper').find('.Earlier this week, Disney fans became outraged by the company’s decision to include Merida, of the animated feature Brave, in its new line of sleeker, sexier princesses.Īdmired for her tomboyish spunk and dudeless story arc, Merida stands out from princesses before her in ways that can be considered revolutionary for women in animated film. For this reason, many- including the film’s writer and co-director, Brenda Chapman-feel that Merida’s redesign is a wildly out-of-character step backward from the progress that her on-screen persona seemed to promise.Īfter Disney’s website debuted Merida 2.0, a petition with quickly formed in opposition to her new image appearing on Disney merchandise.

Disney store brave merchandise