McDonald’s Pokemon Scalping in Japan Shows the Collecting Boom’s Dark Side

In Japan, they don’t call it a Happy Meal. The McDonald’s option with a toy thrown in is known as a Happy Set. But that’s where the differences end: Kids and adults on both sides of the Pacific love them — though sometimes for the wrong reasons.

McDonald’s Holdings Co. Japan, which operates the Golden Arches in its third-largest market, is finding this out to its peril. After a Pokemon trading card promotion went disastrously wrong, it’s been rebuked by the Consumer Affairs Agency and is rethinking future campaigns.