Credit...Patrick T. Fallon/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Pokémon Company Objects to White House’s Political Memes
“No permission was granted for the use of our intellectual property,” the company said. The Trump administration frequently promotes policies with content from video games.
by https://www.nytimes.com/by/zachary-small · NY TimesPokémon Company International on Thursday pushed back against the White House’s repeated use of its intellectual property after the administration published a “Make America Great Again” meme on social media that used an image from its latest game with recognizable characters like Pikachu and Magikarp.
“We are aware of recent social content that includes imagery associated with our brand,” Sravanthi Dev, a company spokeswoman, said in a statement. “We were not involved in its creation or distribution, and no permission was granted for the use of our intellectual property. Our mission is to bring the world together, and that mission is not affiliated with any political viewpoint or agenda.”
When asked for comment, the Trump administration pointed to a social media post where it called out a 2016 article headlined “Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Uses Pokémon Go to Register Voters.” “Seems kinda like you ARE maybe affiliated with a political viewpoint,” the post said, referring to the Pokémon Company.
Abigail Jackson, a spokeswoman for the administration, previously said about its social media strategy, “Through engaging posts and banger memes, we are successfully communicating the president’s extremely popular agenda.” She added, “There’s a reason so many people try to copy our style — our message resonates.”
It was the second time the Pokémon Company has released a statement clarifying that it never allowed the White House to use its intellectual property. The company took issue with the Department of Homeland Security in September when the agency used its “Gotta catch ‘em all” slogan in a video that interspersed clips of its anime series with images of Border Patrol and ICE agents arresting people.
The White House’s latest meme used an image from Pokémon Pokopia, a spinoff game that the company released this week.
Despite complaints from the gaming industry, the Trump administration has continued to produce memes using intellectual property from video game series like Halo, Minecraft and Stardew Valley. On Wednesday, the White House posted a video on social media that mixed footage from its bombing operations in Iran with gameplay from the Call of Duty series.