Hiro Mashima
Pikachu and ten other Pokémon were chosen as Japan's mascots in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. In August 2017, The Pokémon Company had partnered with Snap Inc. to bring Pikachu to the social media app, Snapchat. Manga author Hiro Mashima referred to Pikachu as "the greatest mascot character of all time!" when talking about adding these types of characters to series. Pikachu has been made into several different toy and plush forms, as well as other items. These include a Tomy takara Tomy Pikachu, Moods figure, Bonzai figures, Fishing lures, Gaming setup, Necklace that cost over 20,000 yen, JAM Corp's Inflatable Pokémon AIR, Alcremie milk-styled drinks, McDonald's dessert, A mashup Pikachu and Xenomorph figure and a Centipede plush has been also made. A 15 minute long ASMR video of Pikachu has been released by The Pokémon Company in December 2020.