"Resellers Discard Hamburgers After Taking Only Pokemon Cards"... Japan Outraged Over 'Happy Meal Hoarding'

Since August 8, McDonald's Japan has been running a promotion where customers receive a Pok?mon toy and trading card with the purchase of a Happy Meal set. However, controversy has arisen as resellers are taking only the promotional items and discarding the food.

On August 10, social networking services (SNS) were flooded with photos and videos showing bags containing Happy Meal sets discarded in front of McDonald's stores. The users who posted these images testified, "Resellers take out only the Pok?mon cards and throw away the hamburgers nearby."

Some photos showed evidence that multiple sets were ordered at once to obtain more promotional items, such as a bag containing five cups of cola. In front of a building near a McDonald's store in Tokyo, a plastic bag full of discarded sets was also found.

Another witness posted a video of a man carrying bags filled with dozens of Happy Meals in both hands, repeatedly entering and exiting the store, criticizing, "He crushed children's dreams."

Discarded food near the McDonald's store hosting the Pok?mon card giveaway event
[Image source=Screenshot from X (formerly Twitter)]

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A user who identified themselves as a McDonald's employee reported, "From the store's opening at 6 a.m., customers flocked in, and by 1 p.m., all the cards were sold out." The employee added, "Despite the purchase limit of five sets per person, some customers became angry demanding to buy more and threw the food into the trash."

On McDonald's Japan's official SNS, a series of protest comments appeared, including, "Promotional items only go to resellers," "Stop generating food waste," and "A company chasing only short-term profits is antisocial."

Some users suggested, "Food that would be discarded should be donated to children's cafeterias," and "Let's restrict sales to adults." In addition, there were claims pointing to foreigners, especially Chinese resellers, as being responsible.

The popularity of Pok?mon trading cards is causing side effects not only in Japan but around the world. Last month, at a GameStop store in California, USA, a fight broke out over cutting in line on a card restock day. In Massachusetts, rare cards and vintage boxes worth about 137 million won were stolen.

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