“The artwork used on Merida’s official social media sites has always been the imagery from the movie – there have been no changes,' a Disney spokesperson said in a statement. The party girl image of Merida was never used on Disney’s official sites or Facebook pages, a Disney spokesperson told Thursday.

By Wednesday, word had spread on the Internet that Disney had removed the sexified image from its official princess website, and the movement declared itself victorious.īut much of it has turned out to be as fictitious as the bow-and-arrow-carrying princess herself. Through a petition, “Keep Merida Brave,” girl empowerment blog “A Mighty Girl,” demanded that Disney reconsider the redesign. Disney’s move of restoring Merida’s bow and arrow seems like a hastily applied band-aid, hoping to quell the uproar about these unnecessary modifications to a beloved girl.Nearly 212,000 of her fans weren’t having it. Instead, it seems like a very intentional image created for the benefit of future merchandising. In fact, it remains to be seen what is “limited” about this current iteration of Merida. The sexier, slimmer version of Merida with a come-hither look and an off-the-shoulder dress is still very much out there. They have yet to make a definitive statement that they intend to restore to Merida her original look, staying true to her character, on all future merchandise.

In response to the overwhelming amount of support this petition has received, Disney has only backed down a little. “Regardless of the support the petition has received the campaign is not over. “Disney’s move of restoring Merida’s bow and arrow seems like a hastily applied band-aid, hoping to quell the uproar about these unnecessary modifications to a beloved girl.” In her first op-ed on the Merida Makeover, Brave writer/co-director, Brenda Chapman writes:

Merida brave makeover