Nintendo’s latest racing game, Mario Kart World, found himself in an improbable controversy after the Peta animal rights group condemned the design of one of his new playable characters, a runner simply called Cow.
The group’s concern does not concern the inclusion of a cattle driver, which many fans have embraced with enthusiasm, but with a single design detail: a brass nose ring. In a letter addressed to the president of Nintendo Shuntaro Furukawa, Peta argued that the small metal ring represents “pain, exploitation and control” in the real world and urged the company to remove it from the game.
Peta’s letter to Nintendo
In his message, Peta began by renting the character’s popularity, recognizing that Cow had “won Hearts Everywhere” since the release of the game earlier this year. However, he added that the design would be “perfect except for an appearance – the brass ring”.
“Could you show empathy towards bovines and remove the nose ring?” The letter asked. Peta said that the risk of detail trivialized the reality of how these rings are used in farms, describing them as “roughly stabbed through one of the most sensitive parts of the body of an animal”.
The organization also highlighted the practice of cutting nose rings on tips on calves to discourage nursing care, which, according to her, causes mother and offspring to distress. “To control the bulls, a chain could be fixed from the nose ring to the horn of the bull for an even more painful control,” continued the letter.
For Peta, the concern is not just cosmetic. The group maintains that such imaging normalizes the treatment of animals as raw materials, rather than living beings with rights. He closed his appeal with a plea: “Remove the nose ring and let the cow run freely – without any painful recall from the industries that deal with animals as well as machines for profit. Each animal is someone. Leave the rings to Sonic and let the cow breathe freely! ”
Fans’ reaction
Cow was introduced as part of the list of enlarged characters by Mario Kart World. The character appeared in the first trailer for the game, immediately attracting the attention of the players who recognized him as a nod to the Moo Moo Meadows track of the franchise.
Since its release, Cow has become one of the most popular runners, celebrated for its original simplicity alongside Nintendo pillars such as Donkey Kong and Yoshi. Unlike these characters, however, the cow has no name beyond its species, which, according to PEA, makes the nose ring the characteristic of central identification.
So far, Nintendo has not publicly responded to Peta criticisms, and fans have been divided. Some agree that the company could easily remove the ring without damaging the attraction of the game. Others reject the complaint as excessive, arguing that Mario Kart is a light and caricatured franchise very far from agricultural practices in the real world.
Not Peta’s first confrontation with Nintendo
This is not the first time that Nintendo has been the subject of a meticulous examination of Peta. The group had previously criticized the Super Mario series for the Tanooki costume, a power-up that allows Mario to put a Dog connecting costume. At the time, Peta accused the game of having “encouraged the port of fur”.
Pokémon, one of the most profitable franchises in Nintendo, also faced repeated accusations of the organization, which affirms that the games promoted the fights and the experimentation of animals. In 2012, Peta even published a parody game entitled Pokémon Black and Blue, in which the players were encouraged to “free” Pokémon of their coaches.
Other titles outside the Nintendo stable have not escaped attention either. Mom cooking, a popular kitchen simulator, was once targeted to encourage the preparation of meat. Peta replied by creating mom cuisine: Mama Kills Animals, a game of parody highlighting the meat industry.
Organization methods, often involving satire and parody, are designed to attract the attention of the media, although criticism accuse him of trivializing real problems of animal welfare.
A familiar battlefield
The latest confrontation on Mario Kart World holds a familiar model in which Peta seizes high -level video games to promote his message. For the group, games are not only entertainment but cultural products that shape attitudes towards animals.
“Even the smallest design choices count,” said a Peta activist to have media after the letter was made public. “When millions of players see a cow with a nose ring and no explanation, this may transform an operating tool into an harmless decoration.”
Industry observers note that Nintendo is unlikely to make immediate changes but can weigh criticism against its family image. The company has sometimes responded to controversies in the past, but rarely to the pressure of external activists.
Wider debate
The cow’s debate highlights an increasing tension in the culture of the game on representation and symbolism. While many players consider design details as harmless development, defenders’ defense groups maintain that entertainment can strengthen or challenge social standards.
For Peta, the nose ring in Mario Kart World is not only an accessory, but a recall against an industry against which he campaigns. For Nintendo fans, it is a question of knowing if a beloved game must be modified to meet the requests of militants.
The question of whether Nintendo decides to answer can depend on the distance that the debate spreads beyond the circles of activists. For the moment, Cow continues to run freely – nose ring and everything – while controversy adds an unexpected layer to the world of colorful slopes, banana peels and blue shells.
