Dole and The Walt Disney Company Help Parents Encourage Healthier Eating through the Magic of Disney Characters and Storytelling

Timed with the theatrical release of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, DOLE® fresh fruits and vegetables will feature character-inspired packaging, along with recipes and healthy-eating tips

GLENDALE, Calif.--()--The Walt Disney Company and Dole Food Company continue their multi-year healthy living initiative with Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, featuring consumer promotions, digital integrations, in-store activities and Disney-branded fruits and vegetables. The ongoing collaboration serves as part of a nutrition alliance aimed at helping parents encourage their kids and families to make healthier food choices and formally launched last fall with a successful campaign around Disney’s Moana.

The latest promotion, Disney Beauty and the Beast, features Belle, Beast, Lumiere and other beloved characters on DOLE Bananas, Pineapples and salads, and will continue through April 16. These characters also serve as the inspiration for a host of healthy recipes, serving suggestions and nutrition tips.

“Disney and Dole are working together to give parents high-quality, nutritional food options that make it easier for families to make healthy choices,” said John T. King, vice president-licensing, Disney Consumables. “The new program will combine Disney's characters and stories with Dole's fruits and vegetables to help inform and inspire families to live healthier.”

“As one of the world’s foremost nutrition leaders, Dole is committed to the idea that the best stories begin with healthy eating,” said Bil Goldfield, director of communications for the Dole Food Company. “We’re delighted to work with Disney to make fruits and vegetables more accessible – and fun – for families in North America and around the world, by sharing our nutrition messages through their iconic characters and transforming our collective healthy living commitments into lasting, positive change for future generations.”

Disney and Dole will also debut healthy living programs themed to Disney·Pixar’s Cars 3 this summer and Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi later this year. This mission seeks to help change daily eating habits, one meal at a time, to create a lasting impact for families in the U.S. and Canada.

Last year’s dual-branded announcement at the 2016 Produce Marketing Association (PMA) Fresh Summit Convention in October promised the launch of an assortment of fresh DOLE produce featuring iconic Disney, Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel characters at grocery and retail stores nationwide.

In 2006, The Walt Disney Company became the first major media company to establish a Nutrition Guideline Policy in North America to associate its brands and characters with a more nutritious portfolio of foods and beverages. The company has since marked every year of its Healthy Living Commitment with significant milestones such as becoming the first major media company to launch food advertising standards for kids, launching new content and experiences that inspire healthier lifestyles, and introducing the Disney Mickey Check. The Disney Mickey Check is a quick and easy way for families to identify healthier food and beverage options in stores, on-air, on-line, at Disney theme parks and resorts, and other places where Disney products are sold. Foods and recipes that feature the Disney Mickey Check adhere to the rigorous Disney Nutrition Guideline Criteria. To learn more about The Walt Disney Company Healthy Living Commitment and the Disney Mickey Check, visit Disney.com/HealthyLiving.

For more than a century, Dole has served as a health and wellness resource to millions of healthy-eating enthusiasts worldwide. Dole is committed to nutrition and nutrition education, encouraging the world to adopt a healthier diet including more fresh fruits and vegetables. Dole believes that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables can increase America’s nutritional health and help reverse a number of negative health trends. In 2003 Dole established the Dole Nutrition Institute (DNI) specifically to study the health and wellness benefits of fruits and vegetables, and a plant-based diet. In addition, Dole recently established a Director and Department of Culinary Nutrition to translate produce-based research into compelling meals that underscore the vital role fruits and vegetables play in maintaining a healthy diet.

About The Walt Disney Company:

The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading diversified international entertainment and media enterprise with four business segments: media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment, and consumer products and interactive media. Disney is a Dow 30 company and had annual revenues of $55.6 billion in its Fiscal Year 2016.

About Disney’s Beauty and the Beast

The story and characters audiences know and love come to spectacular life in Disney’s live-action adaptation “Beauty and the Beast,” a stunning, cinematic event celebrating one of the most beloved tales ever told. “Beauty and the Beast” is the fantastic journey of Belle, a bright, beautiful and independent young woman who is taken prisoner by a Beast in his castle. Despite her fears, she befriends the castle’s enchanted staff and learns to look beyond the Beast’s hideous exterior and realize the kind heart of the true Prince within.

“Beauty and the Beast” will be released in U.S. theaters on March 17, 2017.

About Dole Food Company, Inc.

Dole Food Company, Inc., is one of the world’s largest producers and marketers of high-quality fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. Dole is an industry leader in many of the products it sells, as well as in nutrition education and research. For more information, please visit www.dole.com.

Contacts

Dole Food Company
William Goldfield, 818-874-4647
william.goldfield@dole.com
or
Amusement Park for Dole
Bob Ochsner, 714-881-2341
bochsner@amusementparkinc.com
or
Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media
Breton Ingraham, 818-544-0690
Breton.m.ingraham@disney.com

Release Summary

The Walt Disney Company and Dole Food Company continue their multi-year initiative aimed to make it easier for families to make healthy choices, with new Disney’s Beauty and the Beast campaign.

Contacts

Dole Food Company
William Goldfield, 818-874-4647
william.goldfield@dole.com
or
Amusement Park for Dole
Bob Ochsner, 714-881-2341
bochsner@amusementparkinc.com
or
Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media
Breton Ingraham, 818-544-0690
Breton.m.ingraham@disney.com