Mickey Mouse has been in the spotlight a lot recently. This was most prominent when it was announced that Mickey would no longer be the official Disney mascot. Then, there was the announcement of Mickey’s Midnight Massare, the horror movie. Of course, who could forget that Mickey and Minnie are getting divorced? Well, even more things are changing now that Disney officially renamed Mickey Mouse to Mortimer Mouse.
Everyone knows how important Mickey Mouse is to the Disney company, so it comes as a surprise that they are going to rename the beloved mouse to Mortimer. However, when you understand the background and reasoning behind this decision it makes sense. It makes a lot more sense than Disney World forcing all guests to wear diapers, which we reported on here.
Mickey Mouse is Now Mortimer Mouse
Mickey Mouse is 95 years old. In fact, his 95th birthday was just yesterday. That will be the last birthday ever celebrated by Mickey Mouse, now that he is Mortimer Mouse. That’s right, the day after Mickey turned 95, Disney officially changed his name. Luckily, Mickey Mouse will still look and sound the same as he does, just with a different name.
This means that all branding around Mickey Mouse is changing. For example, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse will now be Mortimer Mouse Clubhouse. The name still has a nice ring to it. However, Mortimer & Minnie’s Runaway Railway doesn’t sound as good. We expect to see the branding updated for this ride soon as it has already been updated on Disney’s website as seen above.
Antoher big change are Hidden Mickeys. Moving forward, those will now be called hidden Mortimers. Again, the Hidden Mickeys will be the same, just a different name. The biggest change will be merchandise. Disney will be rebranding all Mickey Mouse items to Mortimer Mouse items. This includes hats, shirts, pins, plush, and more. Any items with Mickey Mouse will soon have the name Mortimer on them.
Why is Disney Changing Mickey’s Name?
There are two reasons for this huge rebranding of Mickey Mouse. The first one is to honor Walt Disney. The original name for Mickey Mouse was Mortimer. Walt’s wife Lilly didn’t like the name and they changed it. However, Walt created a legacy and the company wants to honor him during their 100th anniversary celebration, which is happening now. They’re doing that by renaming Mickey to Walt’s original name for the mouse, Mortimer.
Celebrating his 95th birthday was the perfect time to snap the line and make the change. Mickey Mouse turned 95 and the next day he officially became Mortimer Mouse. The other drive behind this change is for Disney to make more money, especially through merchandise. As we noted above, all Mickey Mouse merchandise will be updated to say Mortimer Mouse.
Disney knows their fans love their merchandise, so they will almost certainly buy items that say Mortimer Mouse on them. Disney expects people to buy Mortimer Mouse items to replace their Mickey Mouse items. It’s truly a devious play, but it makes sense. However, only time will tell if Mickey’s new name, Mortimer, will catch on.
What do you think of Disney renaming Mickey Mouse to Mortimer Mouse? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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