Fukushima Industries Corp.’s new mascot, Fukuppy.
Correction Appended: October 14, 2013
Social media platforms over the weekend were brimming with sarcastic critiques of a Japanese refrigerator manufacturer’s newest unofficial mascot, Fukuppy.
The winged-egg character was reportedly born inside of a refrigerator in Fukushima, does not have a gender and possesses “a strong sense of justice,” according to a report in the South China Morning Post. Many netizens chose to lampoon the suggestive name as yet another remarkable oversight by Fukushima Prefecture, but in fact Fukuppy is completely unrelated to the locale, which has grappled with a series of publicity blunders following the 2011 tsunami. Instead, Fukuppy is the strange (and hilariously named) mascot of Osaka-based Fukushima Industries, which makes commercial freezers.
This article has been changed to reflect the fact that the mascot was not intended to represent the region of Fukushima Prefecture, simply Fukushima Industries.