Yesterday, PETA attacked Mario for wearing a Tanooki suit in various games. And now, Nintendo has spoken out, but it's not the chain-chomp your face off response we wanted to see:
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.
Nintendo's defense is on the weak side, but we wouldn't doubt if they were feeding their lawyers some mushrooms right now to grow their case. PETA, after all, is using Mario's likeness for their campaign.
[Source]
