Shanghai Disney snack ban row reaches China state media
- Walt Disney Company accused of ‘double standards’ for applying different rules in Asia to Europe and US
- Student sues resort for a change in policy and cost of discarded snacks
Chinese state media has weighed into a row over the Shanghai Disney resort’s ban on outside snacks, accusing the Walt Disney Company of “double standards” a week after the issue generated widespread interest among China’s online community.
A Chinese college student is suing the Shanghai park for refusing her entry with food she had bought elsewhere. The case was reported by mainland media last week and picked up on Chinese social media, where most commenters were sympathetic to her cause.
The student, a woman surnamed Wang from East China University of Political Science and Law, filed an action in March against Shanghai International Theme Park, a co-owner of the resort, after staff checked her bag and stopped her from bringing in food during a visit in late January.
On Wednesday, People’s Daily, the Communist Party mouthpiece, accused Walt Disney Company of adopting double standards in its Asian parks and those in the West, where it said the same rules did not apply.
“As a multinational company, Disney doesn’t just have parks in Asia – the rule doesn’t apply to those in Europe and America,” the People’s Daily commentary read. “If banning outside food is understandable, going through visitors’ bags by hand is an infringement of consumers’ privacy and dignity,” it continued.
