If you’ve been following along with the ongoing saga over those Pokemon TCG promo cards at participating McDonald’s restaurants in Japan, then you’ll already know that scalpers are terrible people. I mean, yes, you knew that either way, but this one’s really been ruffling folks’ Taillow feathers because it’s not just morally bankrupt and terribly inconvenient; it’s also caused so much food waste that it’s been spotted on city streets.
Swindlers purchasing Happy Meals en masse is bad enough, but it’s never a good look when your promo campaign clogs urban sidewalks with all the burgers and fries that those resellers never had any intention of eating. The cards were intended to be packed in with Happy Meals (called Happy Sets in Japan) from August 9 to 11, but mostly sold out on the first day. Following some reasonable media outrage over food waste, McDonald’s has announced a fresh approach which blends maximum purchase restrictions with a more drastic measure: no more Pokemon cards.
“We Will Continue To Review And Improve These Sales Methods And Measures”
In an August 14 statement posted to McDonald’s of Japan’s corporate website, the company addressed the tumult with a candid and deeply apologetic tone. “We deeply apologize to our customers who regularly use McDonald’s restaurants,” it begins, “as well as to our store staff and many others for any inconvenience caused by the Happy Set Pokemon Card Campaign.” (Honestly, I’m glad they’re also telling their workers that they’re sorry. I bet they’ve been put through the ringer.)
McDonald’s is bravely carrying forward with a second wave of Pokemon Happy Sets between August 15 and August 17. There’s now a strict limit of “3 sets per transaction per group” – smart! – and each one will contain one of five different toys. It’s this part that really sticks out to me, however:
“Please note that Pokemon cards will not be distributed during this period.”
Now, it is entirely conceivable that there simply aren’t any more of these promo cards to offer. As in, whatsoever. No more print runs. Deader than a Duskull. Either way, it really puts things into perspective. Be it through sheer vicious scalper willpower, or aggressive countermeasures to keep those jerks the heck away from their french fries, or some mixture of the two, nobody’s getting that adorable Pikachu card from them again. At least, not right now.
The statement also includes some basic considerations. “We also ask that you refrain from any nuisance behavior, such as improper handling of purchased food, excessive demands on staff, or unauthorized photography inside the store.” Fair game. Reports flooded the Japanese media over the past weekend of massive lines of scalpers who were ready and willing to a.) be nuisances; b.) handle food improperly; and… OK, actually, they probably weren’t the ones photographing their own villainous machinations, but you get the picture.
Go grab this Pikachu promo card instead.
AloJapan.com