Date of Award

3-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Digital Marketing

First Advisor

Andrew Allen Smith

Second Advisor

Ben Scholle

Third Advisor

Andrew Millians

Abstract

This research looks at the evolving complex relationship between the Walt Disney Company, The Disney Adult content creators and the fan base. It focuses on how user-generated content (UGC) and social media can play a large role in contemporary marketing strategies. As the target audience has expanded to include Disney Adult, this new audience has become a central part in the company’s marketing strategy encouraging fan engagement across all social media platforms. This research is a qualitative case study on the Disney Adult and how social media content can be used as a core marketing strategy. The Disney Adult influencer creates online personas, lean into the nostalgia of childhood and contribute both positively and negatively to the conversation while driving engagement. The study explores incentives, pressures and a power dynamic that leans in favor of the company. This study uses social exchange, social identity, and social impact and social influence theories to analyze content data sample. Reliance on UGC poses new risks in message control. This study contributes to the limited scholarly literature written on the Disney Adult and how they can be utilized in contemporary marketing strategies by providing an analysis of fandom, corporate strategy and user-generated content.

Research Highlights

  • The Problem: The Walt Disney Company faces challenges in maintaining brand control and message consistency while shifting its marketing strategy to target "Disney Adults" through a heavy reliance on user-generated content and influencer partnerships. 

  • The Method: This qualitative case study analyzed 100 social media posts, reels, and videos from platforms including Instagram, TikTok, X, and YouTube between January 2024 and February 2026, utilizing social exchange, social identity, social impact, and social influence theories. 

  • Quantitative Finding: A one-day park ticket for Magic Kingdom costs $199 and Animal Kingdom costs $179 as of February 20, 2026; the study's primary data set consisted of 100 categorized social media content samples. 

  • Qualitative Finding: Influencers prioritize positive content to maintain corporate access and incentives; millennials engage primarily through childhood nostalgia while Gen Z focuses on viral trends and merchandise hauls; algorithms reward extreme "spectacle" reactions, which skews the online perception of the Disney Adult community. 

  • Finding: The relationship between the brand and fan-creators is a symbiotic yet uneven power dynamic where Disney benefits from free marketing while exercising control through the selective granting of early access and exclusive perks.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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