McDonald’s Japan has postponed a child’s menu toy promotion after complaints that a recent Pokémon giveaway led to piles of food being dumped, with the cards then being sold on for profit.
The fast-food giant said on Thursday that its collaboration with the popular pirate-themed manga title “One Piece” would now not run.
Earlier this month, the McDonald’s giveaway of limited-edition Pokémon cards with its “Happy Set” meals led to long queues and bulk-buying.
Pictures shared online showed bags of food dumped on the street and complaints that the cards were being sold online for profit. The giveaway was planned to last for three days, but many outlets ran out of cards on the first.
In a statement on its website, McDonald’s Japan said that it had “postponed” the One Piece promotion, which was due to start on 29 August, as part of a “review of Happy Set-related initiatives”.
Customers would now receive toys that accompanied previous Happy Set meals instead, the company said.
Japan’s Consumer Affairs Agency has told McDonald’s it must improve its sales strategy and take steps to improve food wastage.
One Piece is a long-running series of comics and an animated programme, in which a pirate boy battles rivals while searching for treasure known as “One Piece”. The comics were launched in 1997, with the animated series coming two years later.
Several related games and toys are hugely popular in Japan.
McDonald’s has had similar problems with other campaigns in the past, including a collaboration with the “Chiikawa” manga series that was also targeted by online resales.
After the Pokémon debacle, McDonald’s Japan issued a public apology and pledged to take steps to prevent similar issues in the future.
Pokémon cards are extremely popular among children but also attract adult fans and collectors, with billions printed and some selling for tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
One of the cards from the recent promotion, featuring the popular character Pikachu, is currently listed on one online auction site for over £25,000 ($33,000).
Last week, McDonald’s told local media it was reviewing its giveaways after the Pokémon campaign led to “large-scale purchases for the purpose of reselling, which resulted in store congestion or food being left behind and discarded”.
It said it was discontinuing the promotion and would be imposing a cap on the numbers of Happy Set meals that could be bought by customers.
