There’s something unsettling about an ash-covered doll in the happiest place on earth. That was the point.
On August 3rd, as families navigated It’s a Small World at Disneyland, they encountered something that didn’t belong among the cheerful animatronic children: a still, gray figure holding a sign reading “Remember Hiroshima.” The contrast was jarring. Intentionally so.
Doug Cameron, founder of Brooklyn-based DCX Growth Accelerator, orchestrated the cultural intervention alongside Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s and driving force behind the new activist campaign Up In Arms. Cameron entered the park with his 4-year-old daughter, helped place the protest doll, and found himself detained by Disney security—reportedly earning a lifetime ban from Disneyland in the process.
“We weren’t trying to start a fight with Disney,” Cameron explains. “We were trying to start a conversation, on the 80th anniversary of Hiroshima, that America keeps avoiding: What does war do to children?”
When activism meets agency craft
DCX has built a reputation for what they call “cultural interventions”—bold actions that hijack familiar symbols to spark uncomfortable conversations. Their track record reads like a masterclass in earned media: the Payless Prank (rebranding $20 shoes as luxury “Palessi” footwear), Boxed Out (an indie bookstore campaign confronting Amazon), and now this.
The Hiroshima action drew inspiration from The Situationist International and their technique of détournement—subverting cultural symbols to reveal hidden truths. In this case, placing a war-scarred child among Disneyland’s celebration of global childhood unity.
Cohen reached out to DCX because of their longtime partnership with Ben & Jerry’s. While this wasn’t a Ben & Jerry’s campaign, it was classic DCX territory: using creative strategy to turn cultural tension into cultural moments.
“At this moment, when the nation is in deep introspection about its foreign policy, we wanted to focus on one truth everybody has to acknowledge on some level: that war takes a terrible toll on children,” Cameron says. “While developing this idea, all I kept thinking about was that I am the father of a 4-year-old, and I could never, ever, ever call my daughter’s death an ‘acceptable loss.'”
The mechanics of going viral
The execution was meticulously planned. Sarah Donze, a DCX alumna, carried the doll through the park while a small crew led by “executive prank producer” Booker Sims captured footage. The team spent weeks crafting a doll to match the exact measurements of other figures on the ride, adding weights for stability and studying boarding procedures.
The doll was quickly spotted by parkgoers, but not before cameras captured the haunting juxtaposition. Footage of Donze walking calmly through Disneyland with the ash-covered figure has garnered hundreds of thousands of views. The image of the still, unblinking doll amid the colorful optimism became the viral moment DCX had engineered.
Within days, the campaign generated coverage from Politico to Fox News, with social media amplifying the stark visual across platforms. Tommy Noonan, DCX’s Executive Creative Director, and the team had created exactly what they’re known for: culture-hacking that forces people to look at uncomfortable truths.
Why it’s a Small World after all
The choice of venue wasn’t random. It’s a Small World was created for the 1964 World’s Fair to support UNICEF, celebrating global childhood unity during the Cold War. Placing a Hiroshima victim’s doll there carried layers of meaning that DCX understood would resonate.
“Why did we do it at It’s a Small World? Because it’s a ride that celebrates the kind of world we want for our children,” Cohen explains in the campaign video. “So we put her there to speak for the kids we didn’t save.”
The action supports Cohen’s Up In Arms campaign, which challenges the Pentagon’s $900 billion budget and the projected $2 trillion in nuclear weapons spending over the next 30 years. The message: redirect public investment toward schools, housing and healthcare instead of nuclear overkill.
Agency as activist platform
For DCX, this represents their ongoing evolution from traditional agency to cultural strategy firm. Ad Age’s 2024 Purpose-Driven Small Agency of the Year (Silver) winner has consistently used their creative firepower for causes that matter, whether it’s fighting Amazon’s dominance over independent bookstores or now challenging military spending.
Cameron’s lifetime Disney ban becomes part of the story—a creative director willing to sacrifice access to the Magic Kingdom to make a point about protecting children worldwide. It’s the kind of personal cost that gives activist work its credibility.
The campaign team included communications strategist Michael Ceraso from Winning Margins and creator outreach strategist Linh Nguyen, showing how modern activist campaigns blend traditional agency skills with movement-building expertise.
When creativity meets conscience
What makes this work particularly striking is its restraint. No shouting, no dramatic confrontation—just a quiet figure asking people not to look away from what war does to children. In an attention economy that rewards the loudest voices, DCX chose whisper-quiet storytelling that somehow cut through the noise.
The doll was removed within minutes, but the conversation it started continues spreading. That’s what DCX has mastered: creating cultural moments that outlast their physical presence, using agency craft in service of deeper questions about who we are and what we’re willing to accept.
As images of children in war zones flood the news again, Cameron’s intervention at Disneyland feels less like a stunt and more like an invitation: to remember Hiroshima, to consider what we’re building with our tax dollars, and to ask whether we’re creating the small world we actually want for our children.
Learn more
DCX Growth Accelerator:
Doug Cameron LinkedIn:
DCX LinkedIn:
Contact: new@dcx.nyc
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
Doug Zanger is the founder and editor-in-chief of Indie Agency News. He is also the founder of the Creative Bohemian consultancy, lives in the Pacific Northwest and is insufferable about it.
