Animation Propaganda: The Hidden Messages in Disney Princess Animation That Affects Children Learning

Previous studies have indicated that animation is an excellent source of propaganda because children love animation. The problem occurs when an animation company utilises interesting animation to persuade children to accept hidden messages without knowing that their minds are in fact have been manipulated while watching it. Besides, the lack of information on animation propaganda in Disney princess animation, in which they are not significantly published by the media has become a problem for this study in Malaysia. Hence, this study aims to investigate the awareness of Malaysian parents towards hidden messages in Disney princess animation that could harm children’s mind. The hidden messages in Disney princess animation were identified using the Video Content Analysis (VCA) and literature review analysis. Then, questionnaire was designed, which includes respondent’s background, hidden messages, animation propaganda, and children learning. The questionnaires were distributed to the parents as respondents by employing snowball sampling technique to investigate their awareness towards hidden messages in Disney princess animation using Quantitative Research Method. Consequently, the significant relationship between independent variable of hidden messages and dependent variable of parents’ awareness of animation propaganda and children learning has been identified in this study.