Pokemon Presents was Under-Marketed Due To Ukrainian Crisis

Pokemon Presents

Pokemon Presents was under-marketed as a result of the Ukrainian Conflict. The Pokemon Company says that given the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, it has decreased the marketing of Sunday's Pokemon Presents event.

The Pokemon Company officially revealed the next main-series releases in the Pokemon franchise, Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet, on Sunday morning. The announcement, however, caught many Pokemon aficionados off guard. They were either unaware of the Pokemon Presents event, or they didn't think it was going to be such a huge deal. But there's a solid explanation for that. The Pokemon Company has announced that it has decreased its advertising of the event owing to the continuing crisis in Ukraine.

According to Axios reporter Stephen Totilo, the decision was officially announced by The Pokemon Company's public relations staff. The team stated that it wished to be "sensitive to big world events taking place at this time and those affected." With that in mind, it reduced promotion surrounding the event with the intention of allowing fans to participate if they so desired, rather than making it a focus for the business and potentially detracting from more essential topics.

Some fans may wonder why The Pokemon Company decided to hold the event at all. There was also a response to that question, however, it was vague. According to the Pokemon Company, the Pokemon Presents event was "pre-scheduled" and could not be rescheduled. Pokemon Day is celebrated around the world on February 27th, the date Pocket Monsters: Red and Green were first released in Japan in 1996. For quite some time, the Pokemon Company had been preparing for today's news.

Pokémon company PR says it intentionally held back on promoting today’s video showcase—which revealed major late 2022 Pokemon release—due to “major world events” (read: Russian invasion of Ukraine).

Today is the annual Pokemon Day, which I guess is why they didn’t delay pic.twitter.com/ArDIDsY6W0

— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) February 27, 2022

The Pokemon Company's measures to minimize promotion clearly had a substantial impact on the reach of today's Pokemon Presents event. It will not be nearly as well-publicized as it could have been with more promotion. That will very certainly be made up for by word of mouth within the Pokemon fan community and during the rest of 2022 as marketing for Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet ramps up.

Although the material impact of The Pokemon Company's choice is wholly immaterial, the decision's meaning must be acknowledged from a human perspective. If the choice only conveys The Pokemon Company's feelings about ongoing global events related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, that's more than enough justification. The Pokemon Company's heart is in the right place.

Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet will definitely be fine in the future. While subtle, today's presentation achieved everything it needed to do to notify Pokemon fans about the games and when they can expect them to come. More material is anticipated to arrive in the coming months, hopefully at a time when global events are less sensitive. 

h/s