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addicted to pokemon by Alex Burns (alex@disinfo.com) - May 30, 2001 |
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| They first came to widespread public attention through a mass epileptic seizure incident involving 700 children in Tokyo, Japan (December 1997), but only now is the dark-side of Pokemania (Pokemon is short for "pocket monsters") becoming apparent. Created by enigmatic Outsider (self-styled Otaku) Satoshi Tajori in 1996, Pokemon saved Nintendo's Gameboy from extinction and created one of the most successfully branded icons since the Mario Brothers. Tajiri created a complex world of evolving bio-tech-like monsters that reflected his own "dysfunctional obsessions" (according to a Time magazine profile in November 1999), which can also be located in anima, manga and the nuclear-bomb scarred Japanese psyche. The brand has spawned popular trading-cards, games, toys, an hypnotic TV series and a popular film. But the underside have been incidents like school stabbings in New York's Long Island and Quebec's Laval over trading card disputes; the accidental death of a young child who choked on a Hasbro Pokemon toy (Hasbro has to-date refused to take the toy off the market); and general school turmoil that recalls media theorist Neil Postman's Disappearance of Childhood thesis, as children become just another Values & Lifestyles (VALS) demographic to be marketed to. One very obvious aspect of the Pokemania phenomenon has been the application of memetics (possibly unconscious) and marketing warfare theories. The phrase "Gotta Catch 'Em ALL" entrains a child's attention and creates consumer-trance willingness to buy. Splitting Pokemon species between the games Pokemon Red, Blue and Yellow creates artificial demand for more products (the Pokemon Gold and Silver editions added a further 260 species). Tajiri's game created a panic craze worthy of Charles Mackay's classic tome Extraordianary Delusions & The Madness of Crowds (1845) by hiding a secret 151st species within the games. Shortages in Burger King stores advertising movie merchandise offer further confirmation. Some critics have gone as far as to label the marketing of Pokemon as reminiscent of Charles Ponzi's notorious 1920s "wealth-generation" schemes. Others even see Pokemon as a revenge by an isolationist and resurgently nationalist Japan against the West for past traumas; or as an Occult conspiracy to undermine traditional Judeo-Christian "family values." Even the Internet is not immune from a Media Virus turned virulent. It is increasingly common for Anti-Pokemon sites to be bombarded with hate-mail from zealous Pokemon fans, leading to self-censorship. Some sites have been targetted by Nintendo, concerned over possible product dilution and misrepresentation. This epidemic mass hysteria spreading onto a global communications network separates Pokemon from previous crazes like the Cabbage Patch Kids, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Transformers toys of the late 1980s. Some conspiracies are not consciously directed by Trilateral Commission-style cabals or Survivalists, but occur as "emergent properties" arising out of mercantile capitalist conditions and the drive for increased profits in an increasingly inter-connected network society. Pokemania is all the more disturbing because it appears to be so benign and cannot be traced to a single source. Its media virus Psychological DNA differed from earlier species and case-studies. Pokemania and its accompanying psychological condition (Addiction to Pokemon) may just be a sign of Conspiracies of the Future. The views expressed above represent the writer and not necessarily those of The Disinformation Company Ltd. |
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The Official Pokemon Site Pokemon: The First Movie Assassin Presents: Persecute Pikachu Gotta Kill 'Em All Death to Pokemon! Pokemon Sucks! Thought Contagion Memetics Beware of the Pokemania! Pokemon Kills Titi's Anti-Pokemon Animation Page Shrinks and Con Men What Kind of Mother Are You? The Family For Sale How Pokemon and Magic Cards Affect the Minds and Values of Children All Pokemon Haters Unite! The International Pokemon Boycott Site Cartoon Tied to Seizures Returns to the Airwaves Welcome to Pokemania! No More Pokemon! Arabs See Jewish Conspiracy in Pokemon Pokemon: Spiritual Warfare Welcome to Pokemon Hell! The Ponzi Scheme Nintendo Has Spoken The Alliance of Anti-Pokemon So Long, Pokemon; Yu-Gi-Oh Is Coming Anti-Pokemon Fun! Pokemon Sux Pokemon Economics Industry Players Goats' Anti-Pokemon Club Down With Pokemon! Anti-Pokemon Fort Burger King Recalling Pokemon Toys' Containers Swedes Turn to Court to Block Pokemon The Anti-Pokemon Page Pokemon House of Horrors The Anti-Pokemon Center Harry Lull's Anti-Pokemon Site The Pokemon Hater Official Homepage Most Hated Pokemon Anti-Pokemon Land: Happy Now? Pikachu is Satan! Black Pokemon's Anti-Pokemon Site Poke Haters Homeworld Pokekill Jeffrey Steinberg on Jeff Rense's Sightings: Pokemon Killers Pokemon Must Be Destroyed |
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