A Chiayi County anti-drug campaign has drawn fire for seeking to capitalize on the popularity of Pokemon character Pikachu without permission.
The county government’s Drug Abuse Prevention Center used the image Pikachu in its most recent campaign, which features a standin board featuring the diaper-clad character crying, with a caption bubble that says: “Use ketamine just one time, be in diapers for a lifetime.”
Mighty Media, the Taiwanese agent that holds rights to use the Pokemon image in this nation, said that the county government did not seek approval to use Pikachu and simply “took without asking.”
Photo: Screengrab from Facebook
“They once again set a bad example,” the agent said.
Comic artist Chung Meng-shun (鍾孟舜) criticized the county government, adding: “They even portrayed Pikachu as a ketamine user! The Japanese should sue.”
Mighty Media vice general manager Chin Chi-hua (金啟華) said it is an ongoing issue.
“During the election campaign, there were many legislators who used modified cartoon images for their campaigns and thought nothing of it,” he said.
Chin said that even though the image was drawn by a different artist, it was clearly meant to be Pikachu.
“For a socially beneficial campaign like this one they only need to notify the copyright holder,” he said.
“The Japanese company might even have been happy to allow the use of the original image without charge because it is for a campaign against drug use — and the result would look much better,” he said.
“However, if the government insists on embarrassing itself, it will simply end up in a helpless situation,” he said.
“There are more examples of companies infringing on copyright laws to market to Taiwanese Pokemon fans. I just hope is that there will be respect for copyright. I call on others to avoid engaging in copyright violations,” he said.
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