Fact Check

'Share Your Ears' Make-A-Wish Disney Fundraiser?

From 29 January to 14 March 2016, Disney Parks will donate $5 to Make-A-Wish for every ear photo shared online.

Published Feb. 22, 2016

Claim:
If you share a photo of yourself wearing Mickey Mouse ears, Disney Parks will donate $5 to the Make-A-Wish foundation.
What's True

From 29 January to 14 March 2016, Disney Parks will donate $5 to Make-A-Wish, up to $1 million, for every ear photo shared online.

What's False

The donation drive is without an end date or funding limit.

In February 2016, the hashtag #ShareYourEars began trending on Facebook and Twitter.  The posts claimed that for every photograph of a user wearing mouse ears, Disney Parks would donate $5 to the Make-A-Wish foundation.

It wasn't difficult to verify basic portions of that claim, as both Disney Parks and the Make-A-Wish foundation promoted the drive on Facebook:

_5__Disney_Parks_Blog _5__Make-A-Wish_America

Like many such efforts, however, the #ShareYourEars donation drive had strict parameters. The promotion involved both a date cap (29 January 2016 through 14 March 2016) and a financial one. After $1 million in #ShareYourEars donations were collected, the drive would end. At $5 per "ears selfie," that worked out to 200,000 participants eligible for participation.

It was true that #ShareYourEars photos were encouraged as social media submissions by Disney Parks in participation with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, but was constrained by both time and a limited number of participants, dictated by the million-dollar cap.

Kim LaCapria is a former writer for Snopes.

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