Most of the time, people don't care when companies hire a new VP of Sales. But things can heat up when that VP shares a name with a popular villain.
Nintendo of America announced on Wednesday that it hired Doug Bowser as its new Vice President of Sales. The gaming company said in a statement that Bowser "will oversee a variety of sales-related functions, including Sales, In-store Merchandising, Retail Strategy and Retail Marketing. He will play a key role in driving national sales strategies to generate demand and achieve revenue objectives across all of Nintendo's product lines. Bowser also will manage Nintendo's key retail customer relationships and will oversee retail marketing for the Nintendo World store in New York."
Nintendo also made sure to note that Bowser had "no relation to the King Koopa and Mario's longtime nemesis."
Regardless of whether Bowser is related to everyone's favorite killer turtle, the Internet was enthralled with Nintendo's hire. Many outlets shared their praise for the hire, saying it was a clever move on Nintendo's part. The popular Twitter account @Darth created a screencap that reimagined what Nintendo would look like if Bowser took over. The Verge (satirically) argued against Bowser's hiring, stating that he "has a "history of kidnapping women," that he's a dinosaur and that he "munches on humans." In fact, Bowser's hiring caused the word "Bowser" to trend on Twitter on Wednesday.
Less than a day after the announcement, Nintendo tweeted out a picture of Bowser (the VP, not the villain) holding a sign with "Thank you for the warm welcome" written on it. The picture also has a plush Mario and Luigi tied up with a GameCube controller cable.
