The Pokémon Company Issues Another Objection After the Trump Administration Used Its IP for Political Meme — Again

The Pokémon Company has issued an official objection after the White House used Pokopia for a meme, pushing back against the Trump administration’s repeated use of its intellectual property on social media.

On March 5, the official White House X / Twitter account shared a “Make America Great Again” meme that looks like the recently released spinoff, Pokémon Pokopia. While unconfirmed, it appears that the meme is an AI-generated graphic in the style of Pokopia, which released on the Nintendo Switch 2 this week. The text, “Make America Great Again,” is similar to the Pokopia font. Familiar Pokémon can be seen in the background. At the time of this article’s publication, the White House’s tweet had been viewed 18.6 million times.

https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/2029566106650767581?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The Pokémon Company issued a statement in which it stressed that it did not grant the White House permission to use its IP for social content.

“We are aware of recent social content that includes imagery associated with our brand,” a company spokesperson told The New York Times. “We were not involved in its creation or distribution, and no permission was granted for the use of our intellectual property. Our mission is to bring the world together, and that mission is not affiliated with any political viewpoint or agenda.”

In September last year, The Pokémon Company formally responded to the use of Pokémon TV hero Ash Ketchum and the series’ theme tune by the Department of Homeland Security, as part of a video showing people being arrested and handcuffed by law enforcement agents.

“We are aware of a recent video posted by the Department of Homeland Security that includes imagery and language associated with our brand,” The Pokémon Company International said in a statement shared with IGN at the time. “Our company was not involved in the creation or distribution of this content, and permission was not granted for the use of our intellectual property.”

Many fans have suggested The Pokémon Company should defend its intellectual property by launching legal action. However, the corporation’s former legal chief told IGN last year that he “wouldn’t touch this.”

Don McGowan, Pokémon’s veteran ex-legal chief, told IGN in September that he believed any such action was highly unlikely. “I don’t see them doing anything about this for a few reasons,” McGowan, now principal at Extreme Grownup Services, said. “First, think of how little you see [The Pokémon Company International]’s name in the press. They are INSANELY publicity-shy and prefer to let the brand be the brand.

“Second, many of their execs in the USA are on green cards. Even if I was still at the company I wouldn’t touch this, and I’m the most trigger-happy CLO [Chief Legal Officer] I’ve ever met. This will blow over in a couple of days and they’ll be happy to let it.”

As pointed out by The New York Times, Trump administration spokesperson Abigail Jackson has previously commented on their social media strategy, which shows no sign of backing off the use of entertainment company’s IP.

“Through engaging posts and banger memes, we are successfully communicating the president’s extremely popular agenda,” Jackson said. “There’s a reason so many people try to copy our style — our message resonates.”

Indeed, The Pokémon Company isn’t the only gaming firm that has seen its IP used by the Trump administration in political memes. In October, Microsoft remained silent after Donald Trump released an AI image of the U.S. president as Master Chief and the Department of Homeland Security used Halo to promote ICE on social media.

https://twitter.com/DHSgov/status/1982819431894901043?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The Trump administration has form when it comes to using AI images to promote the President. In May last year, Trump sparked a backlash from some Catholics after posting an AI-generated image of himself as the Pope. The picture, which was shared by official White House social media accounts, was released as Catholics mourned the death of Pope Francis and prepared to choose the next pontiff.

The White House has also released AI images of Trump as Superman and as a Star Wars Jedi. And when the Department of Homeland Security used South Park to promote ICE, South Park trolled Trump in response, saying: “wait, so we ARE relevant?”

And earlier this week, the White House posted a video on social media that mixed footage from its bombing operations in Iran with Call of Duty gameplay. IGN has asked Activision for comment, but it has yet to respond.

Phot by Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.