You probably have the image burned into your brain. It’s that glowing, underwater palace with King Triton looking majestic and Ariel staring off into the distance, dreaming of legs. But if you’re a child of the eighties or nineties, you might remember a very specific version of the original cover for The Little Mermaid that caused a massive headache for Disney. It wasn’t just a marketing mishap. It became one of the most persistent urban legends in home video history.
Back in 1990, Disney released the film on VHS for the "Walt Disney Classics" collection. This was the era of the big, white plastic "clamshell" cases. They were bulky. They smelled like fresh vinyl. And for a brief window of time, they featured artwork that would eventually be pulled from shelves and locked away in the vaults of controversy.
The Phallic Pillar That Changed Everything
Let’s be real for a second. Most people looking for the original cover for The Little Mermaid aren’t actually looking for the artistic composition or the color palette. They’re looking for "The Phallus."
In the center of the golden castle, tucked right between Triton and Ariel, there is a spire. It doesn't look like the other spires. It’s suspiciously smooth, rounded, and, well, anatomical. Once you see it, you can’t un-see it. It stands out because the lighting on that specific tower is different from the rest of the architectural background.
People lost their minds.
By the mid-90s, the rumor mill was churning at full speed. People claimed a disgruntled Disney artist was about to be fired and decided to "leave a gift" on his way out. Others thought it was a subliminal message meant to corrupt the youth of America. Honestly, the truth is way more boring, which is usually how these things go.
According to various interviews with the actual artist, who remained largely anonymous for years to avoid the heat, it was an honest mistake. He was working under a crushing deadline. It was late at night. He was trying to draw a lot of towers very quickly to fill out the background of the underwater kingdom. He didn't see the resemblance until the boxes were already in stores.
The Recall That Wasn't Really a Recall
There’s a huge misconception that Disney did a massive, emergency recall of every single original cover for The Little Mermaid. That's not exactly what happened. Disney is a massive corporation, and in 1990, "recalling" millions of VHS tapes would have been a logistical nightmare and a PR admission of guilt.
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Instead, they just quietly changed the art for the second printing.
If you go to a thrift store today, you’ll see the "fixed" version. The middle spire is either gone or completely reshaped to look like a standard turret. The "banned" version isn't actually rare. Millions of them were sold before anyone noticed the phallic architecture. It’s "common-rare"—meaning there are plenty of them, but they still command a weird premium on eBay because of the story behind them.
Beyond the Controversy: The 1989 Theatrical Poster
If we go back even further than the VHS, the original cover for The Little Mermaid (as a theatrical concept) was designed by the legendary John Alvin. He’s the guy who did E.T., Blade Runner, and The Lion King.
Alvin’s work was high art. The original theatrical posters didn't have the "hidden" imagery. They focused on "The Glow." Alvin had a specific technique for making light look like it was vibrating on the page. In the early posters, Ariel is often shown in silhouette or bathed in a very specific bioluminescent blue.
Compare that to the 1990 VHS release. The home video art was much "busier." It tried to cram every character onto the front. You had Ursula looming in the background, Sebastian and Flounder in the corners, and the castle front and center. It was a victim of the "floating head" marketing style that we still see in Marvel movies today.
The Value Myth: Is Your VHS Worth $10,000?
No. Just... no.
If you go on eBay right now, you will see listings for the "Banned Original Cover for The Little Mermaid" priced at $5,000, $10,000, or even $25,000. These are "hopeful" listings. Sometimes they are even money-laundering schemes.
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Just because a tape has the "Black Diamond" logo (the "Classics" seal on the spine) and the original castle artwork doesn't mean you can retire on it. In reality, a mint condition copy of the original cover for The Little Mermaid usually sells for somewhere between $20 and $50. Maybe $100 if it's still factory sealed in the original shrink wrap with the "Breathe" holes.
The "Black Diamond" craze was a viral internet hoax that started about a decade ago. People saw one joke listing and assumed all old Disney tapes were gold mines. They aren't. They were mass-produced. There are millions of them in garages across the world.
Why This Specific Cover Still Matters
The reason we still talk about the original cover for The Little Mermaid isn't just because of a funny drawing. It represents the last gasp of a specific era of hand-painted marketing.
Back then, movie covers weren't just Photoshop composites. Someone had to sit down with airbrushes, acrylics, and physical canvases. When you look at the 1990 cover, you're seeing physical paint. You’re seeing the grain of the paper. You’re seeing the limits of 1980s color reproduction.
There is a soul in that artwork that the modern, digital-sheen covers lack. The 2023 live-action release had posters that were technically perfect, but they felt cold. The 1989/1990 art felt like a storybook coming to life.
Spotting a True First Printing
If you're hunting for a piece of history, you need to look at more than just the castle.
- The Classics Logo: A genuine first-release VHS will have a diamond shape on the spine that says "The Classics." Later versions changed this to "Masterpiece Collection."
- The Title Treatment: On the original cover for The Little Mermaid, the font is slightly different from later DVD releases. It has a specific 80s serif style.
- The Back Cover: The early versions often featured different "stills" from the movie than the later 1998 re-release.
The Cultural Impact of the "Banned" Art
The controversy actually helped the movie in a weird way. It gave it an edge. It made The Little Mermaid part of the "urban legend" canon alongside things like the "S-E-X" in the dust clouds of The Lion King or the "priest's knee" in the wedding scene of this same movie.
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(By the way, the "priest's knee" thing was also a misunderstanding—it was just the character's knobby knee, but Disney eventually edited that too because people have dirty minds.)
The original cover for The Little Mermaid is a time capsule. It reminds us of a time before social media, where a rumor could start on a playground or in a breakroom and grow into a national "fact" without anyone being able to Google the artist's name in five seconds.
It also highlights the transition of Disney. They were moving from being a struggling animation studio to a global juggernaut. They were trying to figure out how to market "Princess" movies to a new generation. The cluttered, character-heavy VHS cover was their first big attempt at the "Disney Renaissance" branding.
What to Do if You Own One
If you find a copy of the original cover for The Little Mermaid in your attic, don't get your hopes up about a windfall. But do take a second to look at it. Check out that middle spire. Laugh a little bit at the fact that a multibillion-century-old company missed such an obvious shape.
Keep it out of the sun. The red ink on those old clamshell covers fades incredibly fast. If the spine is pink instead of red, it’s already lost most of its "collector" value.
Actionable Next Steps for Collectors
If you're serious about tracking down or preserving this piece of animation history:
- Verify the Spire: Look at the golden castle. If the central tower looks like a standard building with a point, it's the corrected version. If it looks "fleshy," it's the original.
- Check the Case: Authentic 1990 releases use the thick, heavy white vinyl clamshells with the Disney logo embossed on the inside.
- Ignore eBay "Sold" Prices: Unless you see "Followers" or "Bids," assume the price is fake. Check the "Completed Items" filter to see what people actually paid (usually under $40).
- Preservation: Use an acid-free plastic sleeve. These clamshells tend to yellow and crack over time due to the chemicals in the plastic.
- Digital Archives: Search for the "John Alvin Estate" to see the original concept sketches. Seeing the evolution from his high-concept posters to the final VHS cover is a masterclass in how marketing departments can sometimes mess up a good thing.
The story of the original cover for The Little Mermaid is a mix of artistic error, corporate panic, and the birth of the modern internet legend. It’s a fun piece of trivia that reminds us that even the most "perfect" companies in the world are run by humans who occasionally make very funny, very permanent mistakes.