Latino Group to Launch Disney Boycott

Claiming years of negotiations with Walt Disney Co. and ABC have been fruitless, a group called the National Hispanic Media Coalition plans a boycott to protest what it alleges is the company’s poor record of hiring Latinos.

“We are saying don’t go to Disney movies,” said Alex Nogales, national chairman of the coalition. “Don’t buy Disney products. Don’t go see the Angels. Don’t see the Ducks. Don’t buy anything that has to do with them. Don’t watch ABC.”

In an interview, Nogales said the coalition will demand that Disney take steps to improve Latino representation in the company, especially at management levels, including appointment of a “vice president of diversity” to recruit minorities into management and Latino directors to all Disney and subsidiary boards.

The coalition will also demand, at a Burbank press conference today, that Disney provide statistics on how many Latinos it employs. Nogales said Latinos are underrepresented at all levels of employment in the entertainment industry, but particularly in creative jobs at Disney.

John Dreyer, spokesman for Disney, responded, “In general we have a policy of fair employment. . . . It probably could be improved, but we think we have a good record of practicing this policy.”

Dreyer declined to state the percentage of Disney workers who are Latino. He had no comment on the call for a boycott, but said Disney is willing to resume negotiations with the coalition at any time.

The coalition has long been active in challenging the renewal of licenses for local television stations, according to the Federal Communications Commission. Two years ago, it was among several groups that staged noisy pickets of ABC-affiliated television stations over representation of Latinos in television programming.

Whether the coalition’s call for a boycott will be taken up by other Latino-advocacy groups remains to be seen.

The League of United Latin American Citizens, a nationwide civil rights group, has not yet decided whether to support the action, said state director Vera Marquez. But “there definitely is a problem,” at Disney, she added. “This is long overdue.”

The National Council of La Raza, which has been working to improve the portrayal of Latinos in film and television, has not yet been informed of the boycott and so has no position, said spokeswoman Lisa Navarrete. But the Mexican-American Legal Defense Fund, another civil rights group that has joined forces with the coalition before, will support the boycott, said spokeswoman Jennie Mordaunt.

Nogales said his group plans demonstrations against Disney. The San Diego chapter, for example, will stand on roadsides and wave signs at travelers entering the country from Mexico urging them not to go to Disneyland, he said.

The issue of Latino employment in the entertainment industry and the portrayal of Latinos on television are closely related, he said.

The more Latino professionals work in production, the more positive images of Latinos will surface in popular culture, he contends.