PETA: Bloody Mario Was 'Tongue-In-Cheek"

[Zom-B]

Well I'm glad you're coming from a standpoint of compassion and equality. As for the rest of it, I prefer not to sully a fruitful conversation by bringing religion into it any more than has already been. I'm an atheist myself, so I won't comment on any of that stuff. And the issue of gay marriage or unions and religion is far too huge to unpack here anyway.

Cheers.

 

[FinalHeart95]

The fact that nobody even considered that this might be a joke says a lot about the organization. For PETA, this sort of shit is an average day.

 

[Vrach]

The only laughter that came of this was at you, PETA. Not with you. Good job for spearheading the headlines with controversy though.

^This. Also, how is fake fur ok, but killing virtual animals is super evil?

 

[Zeema]

...I can't even begin to describe the level of face-palming this can induce. I... I... I just can't.

Your avatar is so Right for that response.

But Peta is just a Troll [as of late]

 

[MasterOfHisOwnDomain]

Hah. I hope I'm not the only one who actually finds this and everyone's reaction to it amusing. People don't like to get duped, or admit "Oh you got me, you were actually joking. Fair play."

 

[The3rdEye]

Which would be more amusing as a "tongue in cheek" response?

Making a video of all the nekkid PETA protesters with old school porn music in the background,culminating in the suggestion of a PETA produced adult entertainment magazine

OR

A video game where the player has to strip a clothed person as quickly as possible, with each article removed resulting with a message to the player along the lines of "You saved a puppy!" or perhaps some kind of sexual innuendo such as "You freed a weiner dog" when removing a male protester's pants. Failure to remove an article within a given time limit results in an "Oh no" sound byte, after which a bloody animal corpse drops into the middle of the screen.

 

[Denamic]

The very fact that people actually did take it seriously in the first place speaks volumes about PETA.

 

[duchaked]

uh huh...surrrre just a joke lol

but I mean it's hardly a joke since they do stuff of the same caliber all the time heh

 

[Jimijab]

I liked the music in the game but that is all.

 

[Hookman]

I never for a second thought that they were being honest-to-god serious. Its the fact that they think this is entertainment and that they were obviously trying to chase headlines that pissed me off and I think a fair few people on this site would say the same.

 

[Char-Nobyl]

Yesterday, the gaming community was incensed by news of a PETA campaign that implied Mario's recently returned Tanooki suit sends a pro-fur message. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114202-PETA-Mario-is-Pro-Fur] A campaign they spearheaded with a delightfully puerile flash parody of the classic Mario games. Now it turns out, we've all been the butt of a rather tasteless joke.

"Mario fans: Relax! PETA's game was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, a fun way to call attention to a serious issue, that raccoon dogs are skinned alive for their fur," said Shakira Croce, PETA's media coordinator. "We wish real-life tanukis could fly or swat enemies away with their tails and escape from those who profit from their skins. You can help them by never buying real fur."

Yeah. Sure. I guess this has absolutely nothing to do with a juggernaut like Nintendo turning on them, hand on the trigger of its legal department?

"No one really believes that Mario actually kills and skins a raccoon dog for his fur in Super Mario 3D Land," added PETA spokesperson Ashley Palmer. "Our spoof is simply making a serious point: that there is a much darker story behind tanuki skins than Mario lets on. In games like Call of Duty, where characters shoot and kill animals, or in Dog Wars, where players have fun fighting and torturing dogs, it sends a dangerous message that this kind of behavior is acceptable."

They're still banging on about the Call of Duty thing?

Jesus Christ. How many games have attack dogs in them? I remember one of the old Medal of Honor having them, so it's hardly a new thing.

"We know how beloved Mario is-we are huge Mario fans ourselves!" Palmer continued. "We were a little surprised that the game was taken so literally by some, but we're thrilled that we're able to bring so much attention to raccoon dogs whose suffering is very real."

Ah, of course. So unlike the utterly insane "lobster rights" thing, this wasn't supposed to be taken literally?

The deliberately controversial game seems to have served its purpose. Apparently, it's been played more than 250,000 times in the first 36 hours of its release. Ethical considerations aside, the game was actually rather good.

Haven't played it myself, but I've got an odd feeling that it was a good game because it was just a reskinned Mario game.

Regardless, whatever you may think of PETA, its skill at invoking outrage to remain relevant is as finely honed as ever.

That's an asset to groups who don't actually have political goals. The WBC and Klan can take pride in provoking outrage because they don't have any illusions about getting shit passed as law.

 

[rokkolpo]

Trolled....by PETA!

 

[UnderCoverGuest]

Some days, I'd like to take some PETA blokes up to Alaska with me, travel out into the wilds, and just...leave them there...

(We'll see how friendly they are to creatures while wolves are dragging off the bits of them that the bear hadn't already scavenged from the site where the moose charged all of them. Not that I encourage having animals eat PETA members or anything.)

Probably wouldn't taste that good anyway--kind of like the taste in my mouth after reading that Mario is an animal-blood thirsty homicidal pathological raccoon butcher who wears the fur of his victims in the same way Hannibal Lector wears someone's face, and Buffalo Bill wears fat women's skin.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Snip

Grey, care to comment on the fact that no one can tell the difference between PETA's intentional stupidity and their actual work?

 

[Raven_Operative]

...I can't even begin to describe the level of face-palming this can induce. I... I... I just can't.

your avatar fits perfectly for this.


*facepalm*

just
*facepalm*

 

[Korbo]

...if you look at the number of deaths caused by rats, like the Bubonic Plague...

Both of the Plaugues (Bubonic and Pneumonic) were caused by fleas. Rats could of been non-existent, and the Black Death still would of happened. Just sayin'.

 

[The White Hunter]

Lets see... in real life I will not skin a racoon for it's fur. Dont see much point when synthetics are just as good and dont come from a racoon. In real life if a dog tries to bite me, yes, yes I will shoot it if possible, right in the face. If that fails I will snap it's neck or thumb out it's eyes. I should think any sane person would, but hey-ho, vegetarians and what have you.

 

[Gitty101]

Honestly, I'm surprised Nintendo hasn't taken any copyright action against PETA. After all, they've technically stolen intellectual property that is in no way theirs. :/

 

[Reishadowen]

For crying out loud PETA, just stop digging. I mean, I already thought people at PETA were nutjobs on parade to begin with, but this....stuff like this is only reinforcing that perception.

 

[xitel]

...if you look at the number of deaths caused by rats, like the Bubonic Plague...

Both of the Plaugues (Bubonic and Pneumonic) were caused by fleas. Rats could of been non-existent, and the Black Death still would of happened. Just sayin'.

a) Have, not of. I'm normally not a grammar nazi, but that shit makes me angry.

b) The flea's primary form of transportation was the rats. Without the rats the diseases would have been nowhere NEAR as prevalent, due to a lack of transportation.