Apparently, Nickelodeon has been participating in the NFT scam—er, game since as early as February with digital Funko Pops of some of their popular characters. However, many found out that the company plans to continue utilizing the technology when an official announcement with NFT company Recur went viral—an announcement post-NFT bubble burst, as public perception has only worsened.
In late 2021, TechCrunch reported that ViacomCBS was investing in NFTs. Back then, they said their immediate focus was to use NFTs for community-building and fan engagement. This is too expensive to just do it for fans. Also, if fans of your various platforms say, “We don’t like this,” how can this be seen as a positive for fans? NFTs have brought some people together across art, gaming, and fan communities, but only against NFTs. As far as fan art goes, Twitter beat them to this when they decided to cater to NFT holders by allowing them to have a hexagon profile image. Here, we got this banger:
Why SpongeBob is the image of this pushback
As one of the most recognizable shows on Nickelodeon, Spongebob Squarepants has remained a staple in online meme culture. So, while the show didn’t premiere until May 1999 and, thus, isn’t seemingly the most appropriate reference, its image will be used over any of the popular ’90s shows like Rugrats, Doug, The Ren & Stimpy Show, and Rocko’s Modern Life. However, another factor is that the show’s creator, Stephen Hillenburg, was a marine science educator. During his time with Nickelodeon, he incorporated this in places like the short The Endless Summer. This was a big deal. Even Fox News dedicated a whole segment on this short and everything.
One graphic making the rounds includes people pointing out how Hillenburg would’ve been against NFTs because of their continuous high-demand for energy and how that affects climate change. Those invested in NFTs and crypto will argue that it’s getting better or that one particular company is changing that. However, that can’t be proved and, like NFTs themselves, is based on speculation and trust of people that have more money than you because it’s emerging and unregulated tech. Oil and gas have regulations, but thanks to lobbying, they’ve gotten away with so much.
Part of the graphic reads:
SpongeBob SquarePants creatore Stephen Hillenburg was passionate about marine wildlife and doing everything we can to preserve it.
NFTs use up so much energy from simply being created that they’re becoming an ever-increasing contributor to climate change — meaning it’s hurting the environment Stephen wanted to protect. In other words, he would’ve hated them. So why would you make any based on his creation? Simply put, you shouldn’t.
Out of respect for Stephn Hillenburg and his vision, we ask that you abandon your plans to make NFTs out of SpongeBob. We’re sure that Steven would’ve appreciated it if you did.
(featured image: Nickelodeon)
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