McDonald's Japan's "Pokémon" Happy Meal collaboration, featuring cards and toys, kicked off on August 8th with an insane rush of buyers. The Pokémon card event, which started last Saturday (August 9th), quickly devolved into a chaotic mess of scalping and food waste, sparking widespread outrage that even an official apology couldn't quell.
On August 14th, McDonald's Japan announced on its official website that it would implement a purchase limit for the currently available "Pokémon" Happy Meal series from August 15th to 17th. This move, predictably, reignited fierce debate among netizens.
▼ The purchase restrictions also became a trending topic on Japan's X.
McDonald's Japan's official announcement first apologized for the inconvenience caused to customers and the trouble for staff and related personnel during the recent "Pokémon Card Event." It stated that while all five types of Pokémon toys would still be released as planned, purchase restrictions were necessary to address the current situation.
The Happy Meals featuring all five Pokémon toys will be sold as originally planned, but due to recent circumstances, the following purchase restrictions will be implemented from August 15th to 17th (three days):
Purchase Limit: Each customer, per transaction, can purchase a maximum of 3 sets. Orders of 4 sets or more will be directly refused and canceled.
Scope: Mobile orders and McDonald's delivery will also be subject to the same purchase limits. Additional restrictions may apply at some stores or during certain hours within the period.
Refusal of Sale: Stores reserve the right to refuse sales to customers who do not comply with the rules or are impolite.
Other: Pokémon cards will not be distributed during this event period.
McDonald's emphasized its understanding that these measures might affect customers who had planned to enjoy meals with their children, grandchildren, or friends. The company stated it would continue to listen to customer and employee feedback to review and improve sales methods and countermeasures in the future.
However, many netizens felt these regulations were far too late. The real frenzy was for last weekend's Pokémon cards, and the current toy giveaways aren't seeing such exaggerated demand. Yet, the official policy of purchase limits only came into effect after the card event week had already ended.
Furthermore, critics argued that such measures would only create more confusion for store staff, drastically increasing their workload and ultimately just reigniting the same problems.
What's more, this approach still fails to curb the rampant reselling by scalpers. Online auctions are still flooded with overpriced goods, and there seems to be no effective way to stop it.
And what about those unscrupulous individuals who cleared out stock, only to waste food? Is there truly no way to put a stop to them?
After popular collaborations like "Kirby," "Chiikawa," and now "Pokémon," perhaps the company should have anticipated and prepared for these high-demand events much earlier, instead of reacting belatedly and leaving consumers fuming.