Last weekend, Japanese McDonald’s outlets’ attempts to include packs of Pokémon cards in Happy Meals ended not only two days early, but in the complete chaos of miserable children and gross amounts of wasted food. This weekend, the chain is trying again, but this time with toys instead of cards and far more strict rules in place.
Originally intended to run August 9 to 11, the Japanese Happy Meal promotion was the annual event of including packs of Pokémon TCG cards, which always causes a lot of excitement, but rarely involves the police. This year, however, amidst the ongoing mass hysteria over the cards, things immediately got wildly out of control. Scalpers rushed in to buy dozens of Happy Meals each, removed the cards to resell them, then dumped the food on the street. Just a few hours in to what should have been a three-day promotion, the entire thing had to be abandoned due to card stocks running out and the chaotic scenes in restaurants. McDonald’s quickly issued an apology and said it was all cancelled.
However, the company is trying again. This weekend’s promotion features Pokémon toys rather than cards, but seems no less likely to be the target of scalping assholes. Running from today, August 15 to 17, far stricter purchase restrictions have been put in place—so much so that it’ll suck for any family with four kids. Last weekend, the often ignored rules said no more than five Happy Meals could be bought per person. This time it’s no more than three meals per group. “If you order four or more sets,” says McDonald’s (via machine translation), “we will refuse your purchase and cancel the order.” The same rules apply to deliveries.
McD’s appears to recognize that this solution isn’t ideal. The statement says,
“We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused to customers who look forward to dining with their children, grandchildren, or friends due to these purchase restrictions. We will continue to review and improve these sales methods and measures, listening to the opinions of our customers and store staff.”
The one consolation is that the toys look like shit. Clearly things are so nuts right now that this might not have too big of an impact, but they look like the worst plastic tat, rather than a desirable plushie or similar.
However, it probably doesn’t help that the promotions are being all mysterious about one of the possible toys (surely Charizard) which will only encourage silliness. In a normal world, that sort of super-low-level gamble is a useful way of drawing people in and encouraging repeat purchases in the hope of getting the secret toy, but in the current situation it seems like more trouble than it’s worth!
Good luck to all McDonald’s employees in Japan who almost definitely aren’t paid enough to put up with this.