Earlier today, Nintendo announced a partnership with McDonald's where the fast food chain's Happy Meals would include one of eight Super Mario toys from now until May 22nd, and what would normally be a shrug-off PR campaign is going to explode into a controversy if PETA has anything to say about it.
In a statement emailed to GameRevoltuion, PETA said "Nintendo should stay in the business of selling creative video games, not cruel and unhealthy chicken nuggets."
PETA's feud with McDonald's has long been documented, but this is the first time that feud has spilled over into video games, with this Happy Meal deal. This statement is a clear call for Nintendo to end this partnership, though, if history repeats itself, it won't happen any time soon, especially with Nintendo just releasing a new console and in need of all the advertising they can get.
PETA's responses have broached the topic of video games before on several occasions, including Mario games. Earlier this year, PETA called out Warhammer 40,000 for its use of characters wearing animal fur, and several years ago, the organization called out Mario for wearing his Tanooki suit (though they later backpeddled).
They also made a mario parody game called Super Chick Sisters, which had you go through worlds to "stop Ronald McDonald from slitting conscious chickens' throats."
Yes, what was just a boring old PR campaign is now juicier than a McDonald's chicken nugget (is that metaphor in poor taste?)
