Originally published in CBN News
An estimated 95% of US faith driven consumers will not buy tickets for Disney’s Beauty and the Beast this weekend because of the “exclusive gay moment” in the film.
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That figure is the result of a survey of 6 700 people, completed by the Faith Driven Consumer organisation. And many of those surveyed are also less likely to spend money with Disney as a whole.
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Faith Driven Consumer(FDC) — representing 41 million Americans who spend $2-trillion (R25.5-trillion) annually — has earned wide recognition for its groundbreaking FaithEqualityIndex.com (FEI), which scores more than 500 major brands for compatibility with the FDC community, and also for its Faith-Friendly Film Review entertainment rating system, a key resource for audiences and entertainment industry leaders alike, according to Charisma News.
Chris Stone is founder of Faith Driven Consumer.
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Success in achieving recognition of LGBT worldview
In his release of the group’s findings, Stone said, “Disney’s decision to celebrate LGBT individuals with an ‘exclusively gay moment’ in Beauty and the Beast is a testament to the LGBT community’s success in advocating for and achieving high-profile recognition of their worldview.”
This decision by Disney, like so many others, disconnects FDCs — 41 million potential movie-goers — from the film, putting Disney and its shareholders at financial risk, according to Charisma News.
“Faith driven consumers understand the LGBT community’s goal for inclusion by Hollywood and Corporate America,” Stone continued. “For FDCs this is not homophobia or bigotry. There are many complex realities in the world that faith driven consumers simply do not wish to have addressed with their children via entertainment, especially in a family movie.”
Limited entertainment options for faith driven consumers
“Entertainment broadly has become highly politicised and sexualised, meant to enculturate audiences,” he said. “This excludes faith driven consumers who are left with an increasingly limited number of acceptable entertainment options for their families. They want entertainment to remain just that — entertainment.”
That same survey revealed 58% of faith driven consumers think the motivation behind Disney’s decision to include an “exclusively gay moment” in Beauty and the Beast was “to normalise homosexuality.”
A little more than 50% of faith driven consumers say Disney does not meet their entertainment needs well.
Beauty and the Beast opens in US theatres this Friday, and in Nu Metro and Ster-Kinekor theatres in South Africa onApril 13 2017.
