It’s pretty much widely known that Walt Disney was a heavy smoker. People close to him report that he was smoking three packs of cigarettes a day. But have you ever seen a picture of Walt Disney smoke while you wonder around in Disneyland?
No, you didn’t and you won’t find a single one. Because all cigarettes have been Photoshopped out.
Disney began removing the cigarettes from the pictures in an effort to hide their founder’s bad habit from people visiting Disneyland parks. The purpose was simple: Disneyland should not be related to smoking in any way. The only problem is that, by removing the cigarettes from the portraits, they were leaving Walt Disney with a strange “two finger point”. Just check out these pictures: (the article continues after the ad)
Eventually, this “two finger point” thing was creating another big problem: it had to be explained somehow, after all it’s not an everyday gesture. So, what did they do?
Well, Disney parks began training their employees to do the same thing. In 2015, a Disney employee interviewed by the Huffington Post, confirmed the rumor:
“The action is seemingly innocuous at first, but it’s apparently a murky tribute to Walt Disney’s smoking habits — with the company side-stepping around the reason as to why the icon pointed that way. Though it’s been long speculated about, the anonymous employee was informed by a ‘lead’ that the strange gesture seen from cast members at Disney parks is actually based on Walt’s old smoking habit.”
But this continuous photoshopping of history and denial of the facts has drawn criticism, ultimately leading to a change in policy at Disney. In 2014, Joe Rogan posted yet another photo of Walt Disney with his cigarette photoshopped out, with the caption:
“Another shot of Walt Disney with his cigarette photoshopped out. They’ve recently discontinued this policy at Disneyland acknowledging the importance of being honest about cigarettes being the reason he died young.”
If you like what you read, then you will definitely love this one: The Reason Why Disneyland Doesn’t Sell Chewing Gum
Photo: Petapixel.com
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