Volume 3, No. 13. July 11, 2003
The
clown prince
Sharks are so yesterday. Penguins are passé.
Clown fish
are what’s happening. Blue tang are cool and moorish idol are, well, idolized.
These are the star species of the Disney
animated feature Finding Nemo and, by extension, at the New Jersey State
Aquarium in Camden, New Jersey. “We could see from families coming in there
was a buzz about finding Nemo,” said Jesse Cute, the aquarium’s public
relations and promotion manager. And Nemo—actually, some of his clown fish
kin—swims in a small tank in one of the aquarium’s galleries. Two
other characters in the movie, Dory and Gil, are represented, respectively,
in the aquarium’s collection of blue tang and Moorish idol.
These days, staff hear children hounding their parents upon entering the aquarium,
“Where’s Nemo? Where’s Dory?”
“They
don’t care about sharks and penguins, which was shocking for us,”
Cute said.
The aquarium staff was not totally blindsided by the movie’s popularity.
The aquarium worked with Disney Studios to stage a scavenger hunt to find Nemo
in conjunction with the film’s May opening. The prizes included official
movie posters and keychains. Cute said the aquarium also hopes to stage a special
screening of the movie when it is released on DVD.
In the meantime, the aquarium’s efforts have been focused on education—education
of the education staff. “We made the educators aware of what fish are in
the movie so they can point them out and answer questions,” Cute said.
“It’s just getting everybody in the know.”
THE LOOP is written and produced by Eric Minton, Minton Enterprises, LLC. To see more examples of Eric Minton's work and Minton Enterprises services, visit www.ericminton.com.
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