Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer has introduced a new, PG term for alcohol, and people can’t get enough.
The 2015 game introduced players to ‘vacation juice’ recently, and the clear nod to alcohol got people talking about the playful censorship of adult beverages in media. From “frothy milk” in Dragon Ball Z and The Legend of Zelda to Animal Crossing‘s vacation juice, boozy beverages are all over media available—and in some cases intended—for children.
The conversation started after Twitter user @luulubuu shared a video of Isabelle, a polite Shih Tzu featured in several Animal Crossing titles, dancing after enjoying some vacation juice. From there, responses split down the middle. Half of the respondents found ripe meme material in the goofy clip, while the other half delved into a conversation about concealing booze in kid-friendly games.
https://twitter.com/luulubuu/status/1146874127661305857
The memers were quick to seize upon the charming little video. “Animal Crossing: Isabelle needs an Intervention. Coming to Nintendo Switch 2021,” one user joked.
Nintendo announces Animal Crossing: Escape from Rehab, featuring Isabelle
— SideGrass { Commissions Closed } (@SideGrass) July 4, 2019
From now on im gonna call any alcohol drink vacation juice https://t.co/UkyA7WBvsz
— Martin Hardiantø (@Martin_Skywalk) July 5, 2019
https://twitter.com/hninibi/status/1147069017573789696
never calling anything I drink anything other than VACATION JUICE from now on https://t.co/ZSTgp7hu7y
— Sean Doherty (@seandoherty) July 5, 2019
The clip inspired dozens of memes and is even the inspiration for a song. Look forward to “Vacation Juice” in 2021, from Twitter users Shawn and Colin.
honestly would be a really good country song concept
— little hurt 🥀 (@LittleHurt) July 3, 2019
Juice loose goose truce deuce mongoose induce papoose abuse
— Benjamin Ragasa (@BenjaminRagasa) July 3, 2019
While the memers were hard at work immortalizing vacation juice through funny screenshots and videos, a more serious conversation unfolded among other users. “Time to add Vacation Juice to the list of ‘ways E-Rated media has gotten away with putting alcohol in them,'” one user wrote.
Time to add the Vacation Juice to the list of "ways E-Rated media has gotten away with putting alcohol in them" pic.twitter.com/vMtwWlndvq
— Skapokon 🏳️⚧️🐝 (@Skapokon) July 4, 2019
Makes me think of “grape juice” from ace attorney 😂
— Katie Nelson (@KatieBlueprint) July 5, 2019
The discussion about how games and other media with young audiences attempt to conceal booze is still going strong. People are bringing up decades-old titles and comparing them to recent releases, revealing how long this trend has been going. From Ace Attorney to One Piece and even Adventure Time, there is hidden alcohol nearly everywhere.
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