The White House is facing criticism after its social media team attempted to capitalize on a new meme from the game Pokémon Pokopia to promote President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan, prompting almost immediate backlash from fans.
Pokemon Pokotopia was released on Thursday to stellar reviews, and it appears to already be a massive hit with fans.
So, the White House decided to capitalize on that popularity and used a meme generator to insert the 'MAGA' slogan into a scene from the new game.
You can see the post and the meme below.
@WhiteHouse/X
People were not impressed—and the White House's post backfired almost immediately, prompting fans to use meme generators to create some memes of their own.
Consider: "Nintendo's Lawyers Will Love This."
"Trump is a Pedophile."
"Trump's Mentioned 38,000 Times in the Epstein Files."
" Donald Trump is a Pedophile Starting a War as a Distraction."
"My Culture is Not Your Costume."
"Stop Protecting Pedophiles."
"Make The White House Not Tweet Again."
"Send Barron."
And one person was very quick to point out how sue-happy Nintendo is.
The Pokémon Company International released a statement distancing itself from the memes via Sravanthi Dev, a company spokeswoman:
“We are aware of recent social content that includes imagery associated with our brand. 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 to comment, the Trump administration pointed to a social media post highlighting a 2016 article titled “Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Uses Pokémon Go to Register Voters.” The post argued that the example suggested a possible political leaning, writing that it “seems kinda like you ARE maybe affiliated with a political viewpoint,” in reference to the Pokémon Company.
The company previously objected to the Department of Homeland Security in September after the agency released a video using the slogan “Gotta catch ’em all.” The video blended clips from the anime series with footage of Border Patrol and ICE agents carrying out arrests, prompting criticism from the company.
