Google teamed up with industry associations and public and private partners, including Disney, apparently, to produce 300,000 copies of a special edition of Donald Duck magazine in Norway.
The issue focuses on cybersafety, and features Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, among other familiar Disney duck faces.
“Kids growing up in this digital age use the Internet for pretty much everything; entertainment, communication, education and when they get that far; new technologies will play an important role in their work,” says Martin Ruby for Google Public Policy, Copenhagen. “Never has a generation needed digital guidance as the one growing up now. And we were thinking: who would be a better digital guide for kids than Donald Duck?”
“In the book, Donald gets himself into trouble,” explains Ruby. “He is guarding his uncle’s fortune with the help of a gigantic robot but trying as always to charm Daisy Duck – this time on the Internet. An unsuspecting Donald is lured into downloading a virus and giving away his password to Magica de Spell on ‘Duckbook’. No surprise: she takes control of the robot and the fortune.
Good thing it’s realistically practical, acknowledging that far more ducks are using Duckbook than Duck+.
Ruby notes that it all ends well, and Donald gets a prize for his digital skills.
You can actually peruse the issue here (pdf).
