McDonald's Japan's Pokémon Happy Meal card & toy promotion sparked massive buying frenzies right from the start. The Pokémon cards included with the Happy Meals were hoarded and resold by scalpers, leading to huge amounts of food being discarded and drawing widespread public condemnation.
Just as that event was wrapping up, McDonald's Japan suddenly announced the cancellation of its next planned collaboration: "ONE PIECE Card Game" Happy Meals. The news immediately set social media abuzz.
According to McDonald's Japan's official announcement:
Due to a review of the "Happy Meal" program, the "ONE PIECE Card Game" Happy Meal event, originally scheduled to begin on August 29th, has been postponed.
During the event period, customers purchasing Happy Meals will receive items such as toys previously distributed in past promotions. Additionally, some media outlets have already scheduled promotional content related to this event; however, please refrain from directly contacting rights holders, collaborating partners, or media organizations to avoid causing inconvenience.
The "ONE PIECE Card Game" official channels also confirmed the news, stating the collaboration is temporarily on hold and a new event schedule will be decided later.
Naturally, the news sparked online debate. After all, following two consecutive card-based Happy Meal collaborations, the ONE PIECE Card Game (OPCG) also boasts significant popularity and demand in Japan. Many hope McDonald's will establish clear event guidelines before launching future promotions, warning that another situation like the Pokémon card fiasco could severely damage McDonald's public image.
Previously, images of related cards had indeed surfaced, though their authenticity remains unconfirmed.
While McDonald's official statement didn't explicitly mention the Pokémon card situation, the "McDonald's Pokémon Mayhem" certainly left many Japanese consumers dissatisfied. As for when the "ONE PIECE Card" collaboration will finally happen, it seems officials will need to thoroughly rethink their strategy...