One of the creators of the Oscar-winning Scottish-set animated film Brave, has attacked Disney's "make-over" of its main character, the heroine Merida.
Brenda Chapman, the original director of Brave, said the changes in the depiction of Merida are "a blatantly sexist marketing move based on money".
Ms Chapman, who modelled Merida on her own daughter, said she has given Bob Iger, president of Walt Disney International, "a piece of my mind" for the glamorisation of the feisty character she first created.
Disney re-presented Merida as one of its official Princesses last week, but with a new look with a seemingly older age, more doll-like proportions and eyes, removing her bow and arrow and wearing a more glamorous gown.
Ms Chapman said: "There is an irresponsibility to this decision that is appalling for women and young girls. Disney marketing and the powers that be that allow them to do such things should be ashamed of themselves."
She added: "When little girls say they like it because it's more sparkly, that's all fine and good but, sub-consciously, they are soaking in the sexy 'come hither' look and the skinny aspect of the new version.
"It's horrible. Merida was created to break that mould – to give young girls a better, stronger role model, a more attainable role model, something of substance, not just a pretty face that waits around for romance."
Ms Chapman has added her name to a petition with more than 50,000 signatures asking Disney to reject the make-over of the character.
In a statement, Disney said: "Merida exemplifies what it means to be a Disney Princess through being brave, passionate, and con-fident and she remains the same strong and determined Merida from the movie whose inner qualities have inspired moms and daughters around the world."
Ms Chapman added: "They have been handed an opportunity on a silver platter to give their consumers something of more substance and quality – that will still sell – and they have a total dis-regard for it in the name of their narrow-minded view of what will make money.
"I forget that Disney's goal is to make money without concern for integrity."
Brave, featuring many Scottish actors including Kelly Macdonald, won a clutch of awards including a Bafta, a Golden Globe and the Oscar for best animated feature.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article