Quijote, a japanese retail store known for selling a wide range of products at cheap prices, recently caused a stir on social media when it announced it would replace its mascot, donpen, a blue penguin with a santa hat, with a new anthropomorphic character named “dojo-chan”. the announcement prompted an outpouring of dismayed reactions from fans who posted photos of themselves in donpen onesies and threatened to boycott donki stores. in response, don quijote president naoki yoshida asked “relevant departments” for clarification and launched a poll on twitter asking which mascot fans preferred.
Incident happened last week on japanese social media. don quijote, or donki, as it is known in japan, has over 600 stores located throughout the country. the poll on twitter attracted more than 33,000 clicks with donpen winning 93% of the vote. the company behind don quijote, pan pacific international holdings, also apologised for the incident and said they appreciated fans’ support for donpen.
Change happened after don quijote announced the news on twitter. the company did not give a reason for the change but it did prompt widespread shock on japanese social media. after discussing the opinions of many with the board members, it was decided that donpen would remain as the official character. donpen was born in antarctica and raised in tokyo, according to the official donki website. he enjoys taking “walks at night” and “it’s rumoured his appearance changes”. don quijote was one of the few stores in japan to turn a profit during the covid-19 pandemic.
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