Turkish Official Issues Pokémon Warning
I S T A N B U L, Turkey, Nov. 27 -- Turkey’s health minister urged TVstations Saturday to replace Pokémon cartoons with other children’sprograms after a 7-year-old girl jumped off a balcony apparentlybelieving she was a Pokémon character with superhuman powers.
Seda Aykanat, who jumped off her fifth-floor balcony Friday andbroke her leg, was the second Turkish child to jump off a balconyapparently to imitate Pokémon characters — cartoon animals withspecial powers. Earlier, a 4-year-old boy sustained injuries aftera similar jump.
Health Minister Osman Durmus already had asked ministry expertsto study the effect of the Pokémon cartoon on children. The expertsconcluded Friday that the cartoon distanced children from reality,confused them by presenting both “good and bad heroes,” anddesensitized them to violence, daily Hurriyet reported Saturday.
The ministry experts said the popularity of the cartoon andtrading cards should be discouraged, but that they should not bebanned since this could further attract children to the products,daily Hurriyet reported.
“Putting the cartoon off the air all of a sudden could lead toserious problems,” Durmus said Saturday. “Televisions must over aperiod of time make [children] forget the cartoon.”
The Pokémon phenomenon originated in Japan three years ago as aNintendo Game Boy game. It quickly expanded into cartoons, comicbooks and trading cards, becoming a multibillion dollar enterpriseand enjoying enormous popularity.
Spokesmen at Nintendo of America in Redmond, Wash., were notavailable for comment Saturday.
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