Mickey Mouse has his nose tweaked in Indonesia
By Hyginus Hardoyo
JAKARTA (JP): Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney's most famous creation, looks pale and exhausted.
Mickey is dressed in very bad taste, not at all his dapper self in his usual snappy outfit.
In fact, he looks so rough he's no longer very likable.
Is Mickey just frustrated by his squeaky-clean image? No, not at all... He has fallen among thieves who are using his likeness to hawk their shoddy wares.
Pirated Disney products can be easily spotted by their poor quality, Anna Rimba Phoa, marketing manager for the Indonesian representative office of the Walt Disney Consumer Company, told The Jakarta Post.
"The pirated products are usually poorly designed. They are also colored at random. The pirates disregard Disney's books, which provide legal producers with rules on colors for the outfit of a certain character, its suitable size and acceptable facial expressions," she said at the Disney Showcase Indonesia '96, held on Oct. 16 and 17 at the Jakarta Convention Center.
The Disney showcase, an annual trade and licensing business event organized by Disney Consumer Products to meet licensee companies in the retail and distribution sectors, this year was pushing Disney merchandise under the international brand names Disney Babies, Mickey for Kids, Mickey Unlimited, Mickey & Co and Pooh.
Piracy, Anna said, remains rampant in Indonesia, judging by the many pirated products discovered by Disney in periodical checks here.
"Of the 2,500 Disney items produced in Indonesia, ranging from garments, toys, household utensils, stationery, souvenirs, jewelry, and instruments to food, about 600 are being pirated, she said.
She explained that Disney will continue its fight against piracy to prevent the pirated products from ruining its image. They also want to educate Indonesians on the importance of licensing and copyrights.
"Most of the pirated products are made by small-scale firms or individuals, who do not know about licensing or copyright law at all. They usually stop when we remind them that their activities are against the law," she said.
"No one has ever been taken to court -- the problem is usually settled after our warning," she added.
Despite extensive piracy, however, PT Asiana IMI Industries, which is licensed by the Disney Company to produce a wide variety of dolls, said it is not afraid of the competition.
The number of people who are aware of the importance of quality is growing steadily in Indonesia, and they prefer good quality to cheap products, representative A.T. Chuan said. They will pay more as long as the products are of good quality, rather than buy inferior cheap ones, he said.
"Moreover, our products have entered large-scale shopping centers, including Sogo and Metro," said Chuan, whose company exports a large quantity of its products mostly to European countries.
PT Asiana is one of the 98 local companies holding Disney licenses, whose combined production in 1995 alone reached about Rp 105 billion (US$45.45 million) with annual growth rates in sales reaching double-digits, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Scott Edmonds, the outgoing director of Disney Consumer Products Indonesia, said that through licensing agreements with Disney, local companies are allowed to design, produce and market products featuring the Disney name and characters.
Tommy Pujiar, expert assistant to the Minister of Industry and Trade, said that Disney products account for about 70 percent of the local industry of the same category. "Locally-made Disney products, books, baby clothes, and toys have already penetrated international markets," he said at the opening of the Disney Showcase.
Tommy said that the government is striving to further boost the toy industry, arguing that toys help improve children's imagination and creativity.
He also encouraged local firms to make use of existing opportunities by obtaining licenses from the Walt Disney Company, and to take advantage of its expertise in innovation, creativity and sophisticated marketing techniques.
Anna projected the number of local companies cooperating with Disney under the licensing arrangements will grow by 60 to 70 percent next year as many firms have expressed an interest in licensing opportunities.
Ester Tedjakusuma of CV Amarta Wisesa Injaya, which holds a license to produce towels adorned by the Disney characters, said that advertising licensed products is not as expensive as advertising locally made ones.
"Also, by buying a license we can learn how to manage a company professionally, learn about design, production and marketing," she said.
"We no longer have to bother about designs as there's already a creative design book," she said, adding that Disney is very strict about the quality and image of its products.
All characters must be properly reproduced on all products to maintain the image of the character, she said, adding that in applying for her license she was forced to come to the Disney office several times to prove she could meet all the set quality requirements.
But Ester admitted she was a bit pessimistic about the company's prospects as the market for high quality towels in Indonesia is still very limited, and her company is obliged to pay the licensing fee, which swallows about 10 percent of the total.