![CREDITS CONGRATULATIONS!YOU'VE WON YOU'VE UNCOVERED THE EVIL CONSPIRACY TO USE CUTÉ CARTOON CHARACTERS TO DESTROY KIDS EMPATHY AND SELL FOOD MADE FROM TORTURED ANIMALS. IF YOU BELIEVE IN PROMOTING EMPATHY OVER EXPLOITATION SPEAK UP FOR POKEMON AND ANIMAL LIBERATION BY SHARING THE MESSAGE OF KINDNESS FOR ALL BEINGS AND STAY TUNED FOR "POKEMON: PURPLE APETAPARODY DARE-RELEASE OF THIS GAME WITH NO NOTICEABLE IMPROVEMENTS BECAUSE IT WOULDN'T BE POKEMON IF WE DIDN'T (SOY] MILK THIS THING FOR ALL ITS WORTH PLAY AGAIN AND TYPE IN"PETAONE TIME DURINGA BATTLE TO CALL IN SOME SPECIAL HELP! PLAY AGAIN SHARE VIDED TREASURE](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/000/622/155/e89.jpg "Yeah, F*ck you too PETA")
Pokémon Black and Blue / PETA Pokémon Parody
Part of a series on Pokémon. [View Related Entries]
Overview
Pokémon Black and Blue is a Pokémon parody videogame released by the animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in order to protest animal cruelty. The campaign asserts that the game highlights mistreatment and exploitation of the creatures by keeping them in Pokeballs, comparing it to how circuses keep elephants chained up except when performing.
Background
On October 8th, 2012, the day after Pokemon Black and White Versions 2[15] was released in North America for the Nintendo DS, PETA launched a parody of the Pokemon franchise to highlight the game's supposed glorification of animal cruelty. Titled "Pokemon: Black and Blue"[1], the flash game features the Black and White starter Pokemon, Tepig, Snivy and Oshawatt, along with game mascot Pikachu, appearing battered and hurt.
Gameplay
Throughout the game, the Pokemon creatures battle against numerous human characters, including a the gym leader Cheren (shown below, left), Professor Juniper, Black and White's antagonist Ghetsis and the anime's canonical main character Ash Ketchum, who are portrayed as heartless and uncaring towards the Pokemon, only exploiting them for experiments or monetary gains. The Pokemon, in addition to two of their normal attacks, are each given non-violent offensive moves including “Group Hug,” “Shame” and “Educate” to lower their opponent’s battle statistics. Several memetic phrases are also incorporated into gameplay including I Herd U Leik Mudkips and A Wild Snorlax Appears, with a special appearance of Slowpoke right before the game ends.
Notable Developments
News Media Coverage
On the same day, the business news blog Forbes[3] published an article titled "Animal Rights Group Attacks Pokemon For Promoting Animal Abuse," which criticized the game as a publicity stunt that misunderstood the message of the Pokemon franchise. In the comment section of the article, a reader identifying herself as "Brittany Peet" replied that the PETA game was meant to be interpreted as satire, to which Forbes writer David Ewalt replied by outing the commenter as a Counsel at PETA Foundation (shown below). Also on October 8th, other news and tech blogs reported on the controversial game, including CNET,[5] Mashtable,[7] Kotaku,[10] Slashdot,[12] The Escapist,[14] Joystiq,[8] Nintendo Life,[4] The Huffington Post[13] and the Examiner.[23]
Online Reaction
Within the first few hours of the game being released, several Facebook groups were made in protest, including “Nintendo Fans Against PETA”[2] and "PETA couldn't live in the world of Pokemon."[22] On October 8th, The viral content site BuzzFeed[11] published a post titled “PETA Vs. Pokemon,” which included an embed of the flash game accompanied by several screen captures. Twitter[20] and Tumblr[21] users both began discussing the game using the hashtag #Petamon, as well as sharing various fan art illustrations in tribute to the characters from the game.
On Reddit
On the same day, Redditor BEPower submitted a post to the /r/pokemon[16] subreddit titled "What the hell is wrong with PETA?", which linked to PETA's Black and Blue page. Within 24 hours, the post received over 4,300 up votes and 1030 comments. The same day, Redditor TallPerson429 submitted a post titled "Excuse me PETA? What were you lying?",[17] including a screen capture from the PETA game accompanied by several screen captures from the animated television series in which the character Ash Ketchum hugs Pikachu (shown below).
On 4chan
On October 8th, a thread titled "PETA Does it Again" was submitted to 4chan's /v/ (video games) board, which accumulated over 1,550 replies prior to being archived on Chanarchive.[18] The same day, a link to the game was posted to the /co/[19] (comics and cartoons) board, receiving over 190 responses prior to being archived.
Pokémon: Red, White & Blue
On 10 October 2013, two days before the release of Pokémon X and Y, PETA released a sequel to their original Pokémon parody game[24], titled Pokémon: Red, White & Blue, in which Pikachu travels to the human world in order to stop McDonalds from killing animals to use as food, eventually joined by fellow Pokémon Miltank and Jigglypuff, as well as McDonalds mascot Grimace. Within the same day, numerous tech and culture blogs picked up on the story, such as Nintendo Life[25], Nintendo Everything[26], Escapist[27] and Anime News Network[28].
Search Interest
External References
[1] PETA – Pokemon: Black and Blue
[2] Facebook – Nintendo Fans Against PETA
[3] Forbes – Animal Rights Group Attacks Pokemon For Promoting Animal Abuse
[4] Nintendo Life – PETA Targets Pokémon Black & White 2 in Latest Campaign
[5] CNET – PETA wages war on Pokemon for virtual animal cruelty.
[6] Slashgear – PETA releases “Pokémon Black and Blue” to raise awareness of virtual monster abuse
[7] Mashable – Gotta Save ‘Em All: PETA Debuts Pokémon Protest Game
[8] Joystiq – PETA parody 'Pokemon Black and Blue' fights for fictional animal rights
[9] Geekosystem – PETA Targets Pokémon, Makes Somewhat Accurate Rebuttal Game
[10] Kotaku – Humans Are The Enemy In This Ridiculous PETA Pokémon Parody
[11] Buzzfeed – PETA Vs. Pokemon
[12] Slashdot – PETA Condemns Pokemon For Promoting Animal Abuse
[13] Huffington Post UK – Peta Launches Campaign Against Mistreatment Of Pokemon
[14] The Escapist – Well Peta Finally Went There…
[15] Bulbapedia – Pokemon Black and White Versions 2
[16] Reddit – What the hell is wrong with PETA
[17] Reddit – Help defend Pokemon and stop PETA
[18] Chanarchive – PETA Does it Again
[19] Chanarchive – PETA Pokemon Black and White
[20] Twitter – Search results for #petamon
[21] Tumblr – Posts tagged "#petamon
[22] Facebook – PETA couldn't live in the world of Pokemon
[23] The Examiner – PETA releases Pokémon parody game Pokémon Black and Blue
[24] PETA – "Pokémon Red, White & Blue":
http://features.peta.org/pokemon-red-white-blue-parody-game/
[25] Nintendo Life – PETA makes parody of Pokémon X and Y before launch!
[26] Nintendo Everything – Play PETA’s Pokemon: Red, White & Blue parody game
[27] Escapist Magazine – PETA's Pokemon Parody Battles Animal Abuse
[28] Anime News Network – PETA Releases 2nd Pokemon Game Parody
Top Comments
Glitch_King
Oct 09, 2012 at 02:45AM EDT
angstyHoodie
Oct 09, 2012 at 01:22AM EDT