Nintendo is pointed out by the Peta non -profit association (for an ethics in the treatment of animals). The reason? Cow, one of the anthropomorphic characters of “Mario Kart World”, has a detail deemed “cruel” by the NGO for the defense of animal rights. The joyful cattle, capable of driving vehicles in the racing game released two months ago on the Switch 2 console, is decked out of a nasal ring that disturbs the association.
“The brass ring in the cow nose obscures violence and cruelty to animals in the real world. This is why we ask you to offer this beloved cattle a little, but significant, improvement: remove the nasal ring and let cow run freely, without the painful memory of the industries that treat animals as well as machines for profit, “wrote Joel Bartlett, vice-president of marketing at Peta, in a letter addressed to the president of Nintendo. “Eh Nintendo, let the rings in Sonic, let cow breathe freely,” added the NGO by sliding a reference to the Sega mascot, a famous rival company of the Japanese Game Giant of the video game, reports “Variety”.
The reactions of Internet users and players were not long in coming. Many have expressed their disbelief in the face of this controversy which they deem exaggerated by pointing out that it is only a detail of a virtual character unrelated to animal suffering. Some have pointed out that the cow of the game smiles and therefore cannot be perceived as mistreated. Others have put the problem into perspective by comparing the ring to a piercing chosen voluntarily by the character: “This damn thing knows how to drive, so it is not all to do … Ordinary”, writes an user of the X network, among the criticisms of other people accusing Peta for attacking a fictitious detail rather than defending animals in the real world.
Faced with the wave of reactions aroused by its campaign, the association has maintained its position: “We know that” Mario Kart World “is only a game and it is precisely for this reason that the nasal ring of the cow must disappear. “Mario Kart” is supposed to be a fun entertainment and not a recall of the painful instruments used on cows in meat and dairy products industries. No one wants to think about animal suffering when he goes at full speed on a race circuit ”.
