In 2001, the Disney Princess franchise was created. Two years ago, the franchise stood at the top of the market, making a whopping $1.6 billion in North America, and $3 billion globally, compared to the $3 million it had produced back in 2001. How did Disney Princesses become such a phenomenon in eleven measly years? To help guide my research, I will be using Disney Princess' website, an article title "What's Wrong with Cinderella?" on New York Times, "Club Libby Lu to close" by Knoxnews, MCNG’s article titled, “How Disney Princesses Became a Multi-Million Dollar Company”, Disney’s video “What Makes an Princess”, and disney.wikia links.

So what does the Disney Princess franchise include? From Snow White to Mulan, to even the newer princesses such as Tiana and Merida, Disney Princesses are the heroines of Disney’s fairy tales. All of the stories display an external message for their audience targets, young girls. Most stories’ message deal a lesson in love, such as “be true to yourself”, “everything happens on its own time”, “never settle” and of course the classic lesson, “don’t judge a book by its cover”. Some may argue that the line only covers the eight original princesses, Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas and Mulan. While this held true, more princesses were added due to their success on the market, even Elsa and Anna are expected to join soon. 1 
How is a franchise based on fairy tales the top market, even when compared to other multi-million dollar companies? From the minute a girl is born, she is immediately connected to the color pink and the word princess. At baby showers, the balloons sent into the hospital and her very first outfit are  always pink, and most state the word “princess” in some shape, way or form. As they grow up, the little girls will be exposed to Disney by the time they reach the age of 5. It becomes a root in their mind, from being drilled on it since birth. Disney is everywhere, so by the time that the little girls are able to understand and watch television, Disney is continually in their face. Owning 20 channels, of which include ESPN, ABC, and Lifetime, Disney is marketed everywhere to the millions of subscribers per channel.

Disney’s Domestic Channel features a clip of the actresses and normal young girls questioning what makes a princess. There, a princess is advertised as someone positive, ambitious, and determined.3  Now who doesn’t want their little girl hearing that? Peggy Orenstein, a mother to a small daughter, clearly doesn’t want her child to be exploited by this franchise.

“I watch my fellow mothers, women who once swore they’d never be dependent on a man, smile indulgently at daughters who warble “So This Is Love” or insist on being called Snow White. I wonder if they’d concede so readily to sons who begged for combat fatigues and mock AK-47s. More to the point, when my own girl makes her daily beeline for the dress-up corner of her preschool classroom — something I’m convinced she does largely to torture me — I worry about what playing Little Mermaid is teaching her.”
Orenstein, NYT

“So This Is Love” is a song from the movie Cinderella, emphasizing that the key to happiness is a male figure, a love story that everyone dreams of. Not wanting to disappoint the little girls, their mothers bend at their will. With Disney Princesses booming all over the world, it’s also a challenge to avoid having the little girls see the merchandise: Band-Aids, Halloween costumes, themed party ideas, and everyday clothing; you name it.

“...-all cleverly displayed at the eye level of a 3-year-old trapped in a shopping cart — as well as a bouquet of Disney Princess balloons bobbing over the checkout line. “
Orenstein, NYT

Disney Princesses rarely does any marketing. The consumers already do it for free. Little girls wear the backpacks to schools, dress up in the costumes and sport a Princess Band-Aid every now and then. With such a high outcome, stores and shops keep ordering the products and strategically place them, as Orenstein notices, where the girls have no problem seeing, reaching and asking their mothers for it.  The marketing technique provides a system where Disney doesn’t have to constantly sell itself, spending less money and making more of a profit.
So who is the person behind this marketing technique? Andy Mooney became an executive in January 2000, after sales were dropping by 30% a year. Orenstein met up with Mooney as he describes his epiphany on how to get sales back up. He was at Disney on Ice musical, standing in line, and he noticed little girls wearing regular everyday princess attire.

“They weren’t even Disney products. They were generic princess products they’d appended to a Halloween costume. And the light bulb went off. Clearly there was latent demand here. So the next morning I said to my team, ‘O.K., let’s establish standards and a color palette and talk to licensees and get as much product out there as we possibly can that allows these girls to do what they’re doing anyway: projecting themselves into the characters from the classic movies.”
Mooney, via Orenstein, NYT
It was a case of demand and supply. Mooney just realized what was missing and he took advantage and filled the spot. The line was released onto shelves with almost no logical guess to whether it would succeed or not, according to Mooney. Not only did the items fly off the shelves, but more and more ideas were branched off from this massive success.
Club Libby Lu, just closing three years ago, was a phenomenon at the time for young tween girls. However, due to the club’s ideals, it was closed in 2009.
“The problem was that the club's version of dress-up involved hooking girls as young as 3 on glittery tube tops, tight pants, boas, nail polish, lip gloss, tiaras and runway modeling. Princesses and pop stars -- hence sex -- were in. So, dress-up was cool and fun, if it was sexy. No pilots or doctors or astronauts or firefighters to dress as in this place.”
Garfinkle, Washington Post

Although the club was shut down, there are other factors playing into the same ideas such as the club’s. Partnering up with Sephora to create an line of products, producing a line of Cinderella adult collection tops, to having a glass slipper collection. They even have a Disney themed wedding venue, topped off with a Disney wedding dress! 4 There’s a part of every girl that never grows out of being a princess.

“I want to be a princess” is not just a phase for most girls. Growing up, being surrounded by princesses, every girl had the idea that being a princess was the best thing to happen to them. Falling in love, being brave, courageous, beautiful. Who wouldn’t want a life like that? Disney created a system where the consumers advertise the products. Disney just plants the seeds to wanting them. Being so successful, other lines of merchandise began to cooperate with Disney Princesses to gain a profit from the younger audience. As the line grows and becomes even more a success, the deeper the idea of a princess is rooted into a girl’s mind. It’s become a culture. In 11 years, the market ate up the idea of princesses and crowns, making it essentially no sweat for Disney to dominate the market.

Being a little girl at one point in my life, I dressed up as a princess for almost five Halloweens straight, idolized and wanted my own Prince Charming, and begged my mom for a makeover that had me looking like a princess at the end. As I get older, I realized that my life didn’t depend on having a man to cushion me, and that it’s my life. The princess idea taught me a lot of valuable assets, such as not putting oneself down, but it had also taught me unrealistic ideals. Disney Princesses are dominating the market, and it’s being spread globally to teach the future generations about such ideas. As a nation whose media is already corrupted, are we going to allow the generations to come digest such morals?