Over the weekend, mountains of untouched Happy Meals are scattered outside of McDonald’s in Japan.
The promotional partnership between McDonald’s and Pokemon only hours after its launch on Saturday, customers bought bulk meal orders, got exclusive cards for resale, and threw away the food completely.
The Happy Meal Set costs around $3.50 (food, drinks, toys), but Scalper lists McDonald’s Japan Pokemon cards on eBay for $28 each.
Social media photos showed dozens of bags of happy meals dumped outside the restaurant and unclaimed food left unsolicitedly sitting at a self-picking table, prompting the public slurredness of food waste.
“We are pleased to announce that the distribution of Pokemon cards to customers who purchased Pokemon Happy Meal, which was scheduled for three days only from August 9th to 11th, has ended in many stores due to higher than expected sales,” McDonald’s posted on its official website.
Japan is usually known as a model of cleanliness, with tourists often celebrating its tidy streets and high standards of public health. So when images of a pile of garbage were posted on social media, people noticed and urged McDonald’s management to clean up the mess.
In a statement Monday, the fast food chain said it “does not tolerate the purchase of Happy Meal for resale or for the abandonment or disposal of food.”
McDonald’s Japan also said it will work with third-party websites to stop scalpers from increasing the prices of collectable cards.
“The recent situation clearly contradicts our longstanding philosophy of providing a fun dining experience for children and families.”
“We take this issue seriously and acknowledge that we are inadequately responding.”
Japan is the birthplace of globally popular franchises, centered around pocket-sized monsters that have appeared in trading cards, video games, movies and television series since 1996.
Limited edition and mint conditioned Pokemon cards can win hundreds of dollars in resale and collectible markets, and many will buy the cards as speculative alternative investments.
