Pikachu Forces Boyband To Change Name For Pokémon X & Y Publicity

As videogame PR goes, this one’s pretty weird. Historically, Pokémon have pretty spread their influence far and wide over the past two decades – There are cards, lunchboxes, games, movies, cartoons; hell, there was even a Pikachu plane at one point. Now, Pikachu has clearly gone too far.

To support the October 12th release of the long-awaited Pokémon X and Pokémon Y for Nintendo 3DS, X-Factor semi-finalists Union J will rename themselves as Union XY for that day only.

The stunt was apparently conceived by band member George Shelley, who had this to say:

“We’re changing our name to Union XY, it’s amazingly cool. This is something we’re so passionate about, we’ve grown up with this and it means so much to us to be able to promote it,”

The group even went as far to hold a press conference while dressed in Pikachu onesies, to announce the news:

This reporter has no idea who Union J are, and can only assume they are yet another of Simon Cowell’s pop automatons; created using a few manikins, hair gel and the souls of failed boybands, while powered by the tears and screams of teenage girls. However, I do know what Pokémon X & Y is, and I imagine it’s going to be very good.

Pokémon X & Y will be released on October 12th for Nintendo 3DS.