Americas|Paraguay Loves Mickey, the Cartoon Mouse. Just Don’t Mention the D Word.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/14/world/americas/paraguay-mickey-mouse-disney.html
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One is a colossus spanning theme parks, merchandise and movies, with 150 Academy Awards, 225,000 employees and annual revenue of nearly $90 billion.
The other is a third-generation family firm with 280 workers that packages hot sauce, soy beans, multicolored sprinkles, a herb called horsetail, six varieties of panettone and seven kinds of salt for sale in Paraguayan supermarkets.
Yet Mickey (MEE-kay) is a household name to rival Disney across the little-touristed South American nation of 6.1 million. In fact, a visitor might assume they’re partners.
There are the red uniforms worn by Mickey’s staff. There’s its family-friendly slogan: “the obligation to be good!”
Above all, there’s the cartoon mouse — also called Mickey, and indistinguishable from Mickey Mouse — whose iconic circular ears adorn the gates of the company’s factory, its trucks and a mascot in heavy demand at Paraguayan weddings.
But don’t get it twisted, said Viviana Blasco, 51, sitting in the capital, Asunción, among Mickey-branded stationery, T-shirts, and coffee cups.
The map highlights Paraguay’s capital city of Asunción, in the southwestern part of the country, as well as the southeastern city of Ciudad del Este, near the Brazilian border. It also locates the northwestern Chaco region of Paraguay.
BOLIVIA
BRAZIL
Paraguay
Paraguay R.
Asunción
ARGENTINA
200 miles