Disney moves away from woke messaging with heartfelt viral ad centered on dads and sons

Disney is making waves with a viral cruise line ad highlighting fathers and sons, which has garnered praise from conservative influencers. The ad appeared to signal a shift away from the company's recent woke messaging and back to its family-friendly roots.

The commercial follows a father and son over the years, centered on a quiet late-night ritual of walking along the ship while others sleep. As the boy grows up, the tradition continues, even through his teenage angst. The ad closes with the son, now a father himself, knocking on his dad’s door to carry on the nighttime ritual with his own child.

"It's about understanding that these little rituals are what keeps families strong, and delivering environments where American families can be together and heal from decades of sophisticates arguing glibly that the family is nothing more than the last bastion of the patriarchy," Liel Leibovitz, editor at large for Tablet Magazine and a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, wrote on X.

Leibovitz, who declared himself to be a "Disney Adult," praised the House of Mouse for being "as real as it gets" even as "other corporate behemoths cynically peddle goods soullessly, or, worse, pretend to live by values they don't truly hold."

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Benny Johnson touted the ad as "family-centered" and said it "plays emotionally and even magically."

Alex Clark, the host of "Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark," said the ad "legit made me bawl my eyes out."

"The culture shift is real, this Disney cruise ship ad aimed at dads is fantastic," OutKick founder Clay Travis wrote on X.

Travis has previously criticized Disney for going "woke," accusing the company of prioritizing "cosmetic diversity over story" after it saw "The Marvels," "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" and "Ahsoka" tank in 2023. The movies and show were criticized for appearing to put narratives on the back burner while pushing diversity themes.

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The OutKick founder also slammed Disney in June 2024, saying the company "destroyed all the brands people loved by going super woke" instead of making "shows everyone could enjoy." The comment was in response to an OutKick article about actress Amandla Stenberg and "The Acolyte" creator Leslye Headland bragging about how "gay" the series was.

In recent years, Disney has faced numerous accusations of wokeness, as the company appeared to push what some saw as forced diversity. Additionally, employees behind the scenes made public statements that garnered scrutiny. One decision that was heavily scrutinized was Disneyland's and Disney World's bans on "gender greetings" in the parks, replacing the terms "boys and girls" and "ladies and gentlemen" with gender-neutral language.

In February 2025, Disney dropped its "Reimagine Tomorrow" program from its diversity, equity and inclusion section of its 2024 SEC 10-K report. The program hosted a controversial meeting years earlier that was leaked to the public, sparking backlash. In a controversial clip, Latoya Raveneau, executive producer at Disney Television Animation, spoke about having a "not-at-all-secret gay agenda" and "adding queerness" to the company's content.

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Disney was also scrutinized over Rachel Zegler's comments ahead of the release of the live-action "Snow White." Zegler called the prince in the original "Snow White" a stalker and said it was "weird" that the movie focused on their love story.

"I mean, you know, the original cartoon came out in 1937 and very evidently so," Zegler said during Disney's D23 Expo in 2022. "There’s a big focus on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her. Weird! Weird. So we didn’t do that this time."

Zegler was also open about her anti-Israel beliefs, even as she starred alongside Israeli actress Gal Gadot. Additionally, Zegler said she hoped President Donald Trump, along with his supporters and voters, would "never know peace." She later apologized for those remarks.

The 2025 remake of the classic 1937 movie, which opened in March 2025 in the U.S. and Canada, became the company's worst-performing wide-release live-action remake in nearly 10 years.

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The widely-praised cruise ad was released just days before Disney’s new CEO, Josh D’Amaro, took the reins from longtime chief Bob Iger. Iger served as Disney’s CEO from 2005 to 2020 before being succeeded by Bob Chapek. He later returned to the role in 2022 following Chapek’s ouster.

In his first memo to employees, D'Amaro spoke about his own experiences at Disney, recalling the first time he went to Disneyland and the joy he felt when riding Peter Pan's Flight with his father. The new CEO said that "great storytelling and creative excellence" would be the company's "North Star."

"At its best, Disney creates stories, characters, and experiences that people connect with deeply and carry with them for a lifetime," D'Amaro wrote in the memo.

Fox News Digital's Rachel del Guidice contributed to this report.