Inside the PETA Mario Kart World Controversy With Nintendo
The PETA Mario Kart World controversy erupted online after we urged Nintendo to remove the nose ring from a new character named Cow in the videogame. Cow’s nose ring in Nintendo’s game glosses over real-world cruelty to animals. In the meat and dairy industries, a nose ring is a tool of cruelty that causes pain and discomfort—no cow in the real world who is forced to wear a nose ring would ever sport Cow’s goofy grin in Nintendo’s game.
In a letter to Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa on August 14, PETA’s Senior Vice President of Marketing Engagement Joel Bartlett explained that nose rings are forcibly pierced through one of the most sensitive parts of a cow’s body.
“The brass ring in Cow’s nose glosses over real-world violence,” Bartlett’s letter reads. “Let Cow race freely—without reminders of the industries that treat animals like machines.”
PETA’s Problem With Cow’s Nose Ring in Mario Kart World
In the real world, nose rings are used by the meat and dairy industries to exploit, control, and even drag cows and bulls to their deaths. Workers crudely stab these brass rings through the sensitive septums of cows and bulls, which can cause lasting pain and discomfort.
We know Mario Kart World is just a game—and that’s exactly why Cow’s nose ring needs to go. Mario Kart is supposed to be a fun escape, not a reminder of the painful tools used on cows in the meat and dairy industries. No one wants to think about animal suffering while zipping around a race track.
The dairy industry will also clip spiked nose rings on baby cows so that the comforting act of nursing from their mother causes her pain and the baby is rejected and kicked away. To control bulls, a chain might be fastened from the nose ring to the bull’s horn for even more pain-driven control.
PETA brings animal exploitation to the world’s attention anywhere it happens, whether in the real world or the video game world.
- PETA called out Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons for encouraging abusive behavior toward fish and insects, where players can tear wildlife out of their homes and display them in cramped cases in a museum.
- PETA asked for vegan updates to Palworld, where players beat and capture wild Pals and exploit them for food and clothing.
- PETA challenged the makers of Hunting Simulator 2 to trade guns for cameras and make it a wildlife photography competition instead of a game that glamorizes animal murder.
When video games are unfriendly to animals, PETA also creates animal-friendly versions:
- Pokémon Black and Blue: While cruel trainers abuse and exploit Pokémon in Nintendo’s games, players get to free Pikachu and his Pokémon friends as they struggle for liberation in PETA’s Pokémon Black and Blue.
- Mario Kills Tanooki: Mario wears the skin of Tanooki as a “suit” in Mario games, which sends a message that it’s OK to wear fur, but in real life, tanuki are raccoon dogs who are skinned alive for their fur. In PETA’s Super Tanooki Skin 2D, players can help Tanooki reclaim his fur.
