PETA Slams Mario over use of a fur suit....

[Elyse]

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals might be barking up the wrong mushroom.

On Monday, the controversial organization issued a press release attacking iconic Nintendo mascot Mario for wearing a 'Tanooki' suit in his latest adventure, the Nintendo 3DS game Super Mario 3D Land, which hit shelves on Sunday.

"Tanooki may be just a "suit" in Mario games, but by wearing the skin of an animal, Mario is sending the message that it's OK to wear fur," PETA says.

The raccoon-like suit, which grants Mario the ability to glide across the screen, has been a part of the franchise since first appearing as a power-up in 1988's Super Mario Bros. 3. In the new game, Mario acquires the suit not by doing something lousy to a Tanooki, but by snagging a Super Leaf.

Still, PETA insists this encourages animal abuse.

"Tanukis are real-life raccoon dogs who are beaten and, as PETA's undercover exposés show, often skinned alive for their fur," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "This winter, everyone can give raccoon dogs and other fabulous animals a 1-UP by keeping our wardrobes fur-free."

To help prove their point, PETA has even commissioned a crude parody video game called "Super Tanooki Skin 2D" in which players try to re-capture their skin from a flying Mario (Warning: Kind of disturbing, and totally not fun.)

It's just the latest in a long line of PETA game complaints. In 2008 they went after Cooking Mama for not being a vegetarian, while just last year they parodied challenging downloadable platform hit Super Meat Boy for starring a piece of raw meat.

Nintendo has yet to comment, though we're pretty sure it will sound like a hand slapping a forehead.

UPDATE: Nintendo has now responded, via Eurogamer:

"Mario often takes the appearance of certain animals and objects in his games. These have included a frog, a penguin, a balloon and even a metallic version of himself. These lighthearted and whimsical transformations give Mario different abilities and make his games fun to play. The different forms that Mario takes make no statement beyond the games themselves."

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/right-click/peta-slams-mario-over-fur-suit-211025773.html

*facepalm*

I tried playing their 'game'. Like the article warns, its disturbing and it about as fun as watching grass grow.

[jess86]

in all the years that I played Mario...making him fly was a highlight for me...not once did it ever occur to me to skin a raccoon...even if i lived in a country where they lived, I probably still would not have though of it...

[raindog]

I really think that the leadership of PETA (and a great many of their members) are clinically insane and need some serious treatment. http://www.nokillnow.com/PETAIngridNewkirkResign.htm

Mick

[Sarah]

this is pathetic - i used to play Mario when i was younger and yes it's a racoon suit but so what - it's got nothing to do with it being a dead animal it's not even portrayed in that way ffs

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

how many kids actually pay attention to what hes wearing! i never once thought omg hes dressed like an animal i want to go and kill a raccoon so i can aswell!

oh n i am SOOOO getting this game

[Steve!]

I was under the impression that (now at least) PETA themselves have said it was a bit of a tongue in cheek joke to basically get peoples attention lol

[Arooroomom]

They are a bunch of basket cases.

[aronoiiel]

Given the age group Mario is aimed at the only thing most kids are thinking is "YES I get to fly now!"

[Ravenwolf]

And PETA wonders why no one takes them seriously.

On a side note, I did not realize tanukis were actual animals! I guess they're like an asian raccoon or something. So cute!

[Michelle Melsom]

Oh PETA how dumb you make yourselves look....nobody actually sees mario kill and skin a raccoon ffs it could be a fake little costume like you would wear at halloween made from rayon and polyester or some junk

[Darc-Brittany]

UGH! I've had this debate countless times! I'm a huge gamer and I support PETA. They do a LOT of STUPID stuff, this being one of them but at least give them the official website page so you can be informed before making comments on the matter.

http://features.peta.org/mario-kills-tanooki/

That game was just to get people's attention so the real issue could be addressed as you can see if you read their page. It's about fur farming and that the tanooki is an actual animal that is being farmed for their fur. They are being brutally killed and skinned alive in most cases. I hate that they were stupid enough to bring forth the game because their message is getting lost in all of this. Half the people that hear about their game are hearing it from News websites or bloggers that are just outraged. It's truly upsetting that people just settle on the negative things. I feel bad for the raccoon dogs because I doubt that many will even notice that there was more to this than just the stupid game.

[BlueWolf]

UGH! I've had this debate countless times! I'm a huge gamer and I support PETA. They do a LOT of STUPID stuff, this being one of them but at least give them the official website page so you can be informed before making comments on the matter.

http://features.peta.org/mario-kills-tanooki/

That game was just to get people's attention so the real issue could be addressed as you can see if you read their page. It's about fur farming and that the tanooki is an actual animal that is being farmed for their fur. They are being brutally killed and skinned alive in most cases. I hate that they were stupid enough to bring forth the game because their message is getting lost in all of this. Half the people that hear about their game are hearing it from News websites or bloggers that are just outraged. It's truly upsetting that people just settle on the negative things. I feel bad for the raccoon dogs because I doubt that many will even notice that there was more to this than just the stupid game.

Don't get me wrong, most of the problems PETA's trying to address are completely valid. But their problem has always been the WAY they try to tell this to the rest of the world. Like you said, they have released a game and made a stupid statement about Mario and obviously all the focus is now going to that instead of what they actually want to tell us. How can you not blame people for talking bad about PETA when they are claiming Mario encourages the skinning of animals??

Not too long ago PETA announced to launch a new adult site to get more awareness of animals being skinned. How does watching naked people even makes us remind of that?? Their point has completely blown away by the way they trying to bring that message to us. Don't believe me? Read the news, everyone was talking about that website instead of the reason it was actually there. Really, I don't get their way of thinking and probably never will.

[Mollys Dad]

*facepalm*

[Mollys Dad]

Does any member of PITA (oops sorry, PETA) have leather shoes / sofa / car seats?

[Michelle Melsom]

Does any member of PITA (oops sorry, PETA) have leather shoes / sofa / car seats?

"Mary Beth Sweetland, the diabetic PETA executive who uses insulin. She's apparently OK with letting animals die for her insulin.

She was quoted in Glamour magazine saying "I'm an insulin-dependent diabetic. Twice a day I take synthetically manufactured insulin that still contains some animal products -- and I have no qualms about it ... I'm not going to take the chance of killing myself by not taking insulin. I don't see myself as a hypocrite. I need my life to fight for the rights of animals."

But if YOU have a disease as scientists are trying to find a cure by testing on animals, PETA is against that. Sweetland needs her life, you might not need yours."

Got that from a blog :/

[Mollys Dad]

But if YOU have a disease as scientists are trying to find a cure by testing on animals, PETA is against that. Sweetland needs her life, you might not need yours."

Got that from a blog :/

So... one rule for them and another rule for the rest of us? Gee... sounds like so many other situations!

[Ravenwolf]

[ATTACH=full]28845[/ATTACH]

BAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

[Darc-Brittany]

*Huge heavy sigh* Did anyone even read the link I posted??!

I quote from the site:

"Tanooki may be just a "suit" in Mario games, but in real life, tanuki are raccoon dogs who are skinned alive for their fur. By wearing Tanooki, Mario is sending the message that it's OK to wear fur. Play Super Tanooki Skin 2D and help Tanooki reclaim his fur!"

And here's a little insight to those who are not clever enough to look past the game

http://kotaku.com/5860212/peta-that-whole-bloody-mario-thing-that-was-just-a-joke

Explains everything, everything that I thought was pretty self explanatory. People only believe what they want to believe, most people already have their own opinion on PETA so they filter everything they read about them. There are two sides to every story, however, news and the media tend to only show one, the negative. Media twists things in order to get the reaction that they want from people, it's disgusting. Then you have all these uneducated people taking up sides after reading one biased article or over hearing something. It's annoying.

As for the insulin matter, that's one person that works for the organization. You can't judge a company on one individual within a company, but if that is your logic, I'm sure that every company on the face of the planet would be corrupt.

Do you know how PETA came to be founded? It's usually the most twisted piece of PETA information out there. The founder took in some abandoned kittens to a shelter because she was scared for their well being, she thought that they'd all get adopted out. They killed the kitties immediately after she dropped them off. A few days later she went to check up on them and they said that they had taken care of them all after she dropped them off. Pretty upset she wanted to find out why so she got a job there. What did she discover? The workers would carry out the most inhumane ways of "putting down" the animals, stomping, beating to death, whatever they wanted. So she would come to work every morning early so she could put all the animals down humanely before anyone arrived at work.

All you hear from people that know nothing of it is that "She loves killing animals." No, no she does not, that's why she founded PETA. She said that she put down thousands of animals while working there and every day she cried. Someone that can put down that many animals and still cry after doing so cannot be evil, there's no way. Yes, they are truely a terrible and corrupt company. I will stand behind them, they believe in equality of animals, no animal's life should be worth any more than another's. That's the way it should be and always will be. They've converted hundreds of thousands of people. Yes, they have controversial ways of marketing but when you are battling something that is legal in the land that the evil doing is happening, what can you do? You can't do anything! Awareness is all you can do and they do a wonderful job of it!

http://www.peta.org/mediacenter/ads/Print-Ads-Skins.aspx is their other advertisement that had people all flared up over. What is the big deal? These celebrities volunteered and WANTED to have themselves done up on an ad. I personally think that it's a really clever idea, and it's a great message. I hear a lot of women, feminists, saying that it's sexist. I find it sexist that they even consider is sexist because they are basically saying that they are not allowed to use their body how they want to. On top of it all, it's not just WOMEN! That's usually what comes to mind, "Ooooh all those nude women celebs, PETA is so sexist."

I'm just tired of uneducated people speaking on the matter, at least do some research first to say that you know a little about what is going on. It's upsetting for us that actually know what is going on and the good that they are doing. If the golden girls are behind them, there's no way they're evil, ha.

Call me evil, I side with PETA. This seems like a PETA hate board, seems like every post I see about this game is just a bunch of people hating on them. They are a good company with great beliefs but they do controversial stuff which is only to get attention. I don't see why people can't see that.

[Darc-Brittany]

Organization, not company >_< You know what I mean.

[Bellatrix]

I don't believe PETA is a good organization at all, maybe if they focused more on the important things regarding animals and not addressing things like OMG MARIO IS WEARING FUR lets attack Nintendo then maybe more people would take them more seriously. It's stupid comments like that article that make people think these people are crazy. Sorry thats MHO. Not to be rude.

[Darc-Brittany]

*Slams face against the wall* Impossible to carry on a debate when people look completely past your post. Just disregard everything I just said... Seems like that's all everyone does when the facts come in.

That was a joke to kick off their main campaign against fur farms!!

Does anyone watch Robot Chicken? They had a segment on if Mario Brothers was real and it was WAY worst than that game EVER was and people found it HILARIOUS! If Robot Chicken would have made a funny animation about this people would have laughed. Add PETA to the works and people flip poo! It's silly.

http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-clothing/animals-used-for-fur.aspx

All the animals that are being used for fur coats. Yes, dogs and cats are even among them.

[Bellatrix]

Maybe if PETA didn't do things like this all the time people wouldn't be flipping poo. I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinions and you shouldn't try so hard to get people to change their minds. I see where your coming from and appreciate your dedication to the things you believe in, but please don't get upset when other people believe differently. enough said.

[Darc-Brittany]

I'm not upset, I'm not trying to get people to change their minds either. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I would never bash anyone for ever having their own opinion. I'm just trying to get people to read it from the source and not a biased news article before forming an opinion on the matter.

You don't like PETA because they do controversial stuff all the time, that's what they do. If they were to have posted the fur-farm video on their main page without the Mario game, do you think that they would have gotten any attention? A few people that visited their website MIGHT have noticed it. But surely not nearly as much as they have now and even if just a few people happen to watch the video, it's a win for them. Mario was just a way to get the press involved, it's what PETA does.

[BlueWolf]

Darc-Brittany

I do understand you. I dislike the use of furrcoats pretty much like anyone else here on this forum.

However, I did not really laughed at this at all, I found the game rather disturbing actually.

I dislike the way PETA makes these campaigns. You know, by targeting innocents like Mario, or even the town "Turkey" PETA is trying to change to "Tofurky" because otherwise it promotes eating turkey.

I really wish PETA didn't do these things. These actions overshadow the actual valid problems they're trying to address.

[Bellatrix]

Again my opinion is not of a good nature to them. I see lots of organizations use other means of press like the internet via Facebook and other lines of communications to get their point across never needing to do out rages things that make people angry or think holy heck these people need a lobotomy. Neway im done again enough said on the subject from my side. Thank you for the great debate and have a great night.