Hasbro Fans Elect Cat, Iron Ousted

02/12 in Social Media

By: Josh Hecht

As I took a 5-minute internet-browsing break before working on a different blog post, I stumbled upon a headline too horrifying to ignore:

“Monopoly “fans” vote to remove the iron; replace it with a cat token.”

My first two thoughts were:

1)    No one wants to be the iron anyway. It’s not even cool enough to guard the Free Parking pot (that’s the cannon’s job).

2)    A cat!?

I love Monopoly, but I’m by no means a Monopoly traditionalist.  After all, the last version of Monopoly I played was Nintendo Monopoly – not “video game” Monopoly, but a traditional Monopoly board game that’s Nintendo themed (and of course, more awesome).

Much like Doritos fan-chosen 2013 Super Bowl commercial, Hasbro gave their Facebook fans the ability to decide their future.

And kudos to Hasbro for using social media to engage their 10+ million consumers who have “liked” their page, but we need to do better as a society with the power these brands are giving us.

Look at what the other options were… ONE’S A TOY ROBOT WITH A MUSTACHE!

And we’re supposed to believe this self-entitled cat, who looks like he was born with all 4 Railroads plus Boardwalk and Park Place, was the top choice?

I prefer the rags to riches story of the scruffy Scottie Dog.

In the meantime, yes Hasbro, I will be purchasing a copy of classic Monopoly “before one token disappears forever.”