McDonald’s is cracking down on scalpers after its latest Pokemon Happy Meal promo triggered chaos, mass food waste, and sold out in under 24 hours.
The limited-time Pokemon Happy Meals, launched on August 8 in Japan, included a pack of promo cards with every order. Each pack contained a guaranteed Pikachu card and one random card from a pool of five.
Demand exploded immediately. Photos and videos showed hundreds of people lined up outside certain locations, while others shared images of massive McDonald’s orders abandoned in the street. The only way to get the cards was to buy food, and some customers simply tossed it.
Within a day, McDonald’s pulled the promo citing “higher-than-expected sales.” The rush mirrored earlier scalper frenzies for Happy Meals based on the manga-turned-anime Chiikawa, which also ended in mass sellouts and wasted food.
With a second batch Pokemon toys set to arrive on August 15, the chain is taking no chances. McDonald’s announced new restrictions.
McDonald’s introduces anti-scalper measures for new batch of Pokemon Happy Meals
First, the chain is restricting sales to only three Happy Meals per group. If you try to purchase four or more, your entire order will be canceled. “We refuse the purchase of customers who cannot observe the above rules and manners,” they said in a news release.
They’re also limiting the number of mobile orders and won’t be distributing Pokemon cards during this promotion, only the toys. These restrictions will be in place from August 15 to August 17.
The company warned that anyone breaking the rules will be refused service and urged customers not to call stores to check stock. It also explicitly banned buying Happy Meals just to resell the contents or dumping the food.
“Please refrain from causing inconvenience such as inappropriate handling of purchased food, excessive requests to the crew, and unauthorized shooting inside the store,” the statement read.
Pokemon card chaos is nothing new and has been happening since the series began in the 90s.
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