The Pokémon Company International has criticised the White House for using its imagery, including the popular character Pikachu, in a political meme posted online with the slogan “Make America Great Again”.

The company said it had no involvement in the creation or distribution of the meme and had not given permission to use its intellectual property.

Pokémon spokeswoman Sravanthi Dev said,“We were not involved in its creation or distribution, and no permission was granted for the use of our intellectual property.” 

She added that the company’s mission is to bring people together and that it is not linked to any political viewpoint or agenda.

This is not the first time the company has objected to the Trump administration’s use of its content. In September, Pokémon also criticised a video that used its theme song and the slogan “Gotta catch ’em all” while showing arrests made by US border patrol and immigration agents as part of the administration’s deportation campaign.

The latest meme appears to use an image from the recently released game Pokopia for Nintendo. The slogan was written in a font similar to the game’s style, with a small version of Pikachu appearing behind the letter “e” in the word “make”.

When asked about the criticism, the White House referred the BBC to a post on X by spokesman Kaelan Dorr.In the post, Dorr shared a 10-year-old Wall Street Journal article about former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who once referenced the mobile game Pokémon Go during the 2016 election campaign, saying she was trying to get supporters to “have Pokémon go to the polls”.

“Hey Mr Pikachu, big fan. Question for you – why no response to articles like this?” Dorr wrote on X, suggesting the company might have a political bias.

The Pokémon Company did not say whether it plans to take legal action over the use of its content.

During Donald Trump’s second term, the White House has frequently used popular internet memes on official social media accounts to promote its policies.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson earlier defended the approach, saying the administration was using engaging posts and memes to communicate the president’s agenda.

Recently, the White House also posted a video combining images from the war with Iran and scenes from the video game series Call of Duty.

Several artists and public figures have criticised the administration for using their content without permission. Comedian and podcaster Theo Von last year objected after the Department of Homeland Security used a clip of him in a video highlighting deportation numbers.

Von responded on X saying he did not approve the use of the clip and asked the agency to remove it.

Source: BBC