{"id":929,"date":"2025-08-13T16:15:23","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T16:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/?p=929"},"modified":"2025-08-14T14:21:52","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T14:21:52","slug":"mcdonalds-japans-pokemon-card-happy-meals-promotion-comes-to-an-unhappy-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/13\/mcdonalds-japans-pokemon-card-happy-meals-promotion-comes-to-an-unhappy-end\/","title":{"rendered":"McDonald\u2019s Japan\u2019s Pokemon card Happy Meals promotion comes to an unhappy end"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By YURI KAGEYAMA<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>TOKYO (AP) \u2014 Fast-food chain McDonald\u2019s Japan has canceled a Happy Meal campaign that came with coveted Pokemon cards, apologizing after resellers rushed to buy the meals and then discarded the food, leaving trash outside stores.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related left\">\n<h2 class=\"widget-title\" data-curated-ids=\"\" data-relation-type=\"automatic-primary-section\">Related Articles<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2025\/08\/14\/today-in-history-august-14-fdr-signs-social-security-act-2\/\" title=\"Today in History: August 14, FDR signs Social Security Act\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tToday in History: August 14, FDR signs Social Security Act\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2025\/08\/13\/alaska-summit-history\/\" title=\"Trump-Putin summit on Ukraine is latest chapter in Alaska\u2019s long history \u2014 and tension \u2014 with Russia\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tTrump-Putin summit on Ukraine is latest chapter in Alaska\u2019s long history \u2014 and tension \u2014 with Russia\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2025\/08\/13\/trump-european-leaders-before-putin\/\" title=\"Trump warns of \u2018severe consequences\u2019 if Putin does not agree to stop war after summit\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tTrump warns of \u2018severe consequences\u2019 if Putin does not agree to stop war after summit\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2025\/08\/13\/today-in-history-august-13-east-germany-closes-berlin-border-2\/\" title=\"Today in History: August 13, East Germany closes Berlin border\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tToday in History: August 13, East Germany closes Berlin border\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2025\/08\/12\/israel-gaza-south-sudan\/\" title=\"Israel is in talks to possibly resettle Palestinians from Gaza in South Sudan\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tIsrael is in talks to possibly resettle Palestinians from Gaza in South Sudan\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The meals, called Happy Sets in Japan, were meant for children. They came with a toy, such as a tiny plastic Pikachu, and a Pokemon card. They sold out in a day, according to Japanese media reports.<\/p>\n<p>Mounds of wasted food were found near the stores.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe do not believe in abandoning and discarding food. This situation goes against our longtime philosophy that we have cherished as a restaurant to \u2018offer a fun dining experience for children and families.\u2019 We sincerely accept that our preparations had not been adequate,\u201d the company said in a statement Monday.<\/p>\n<p>McDonald\u2019s said it was working on ways to prevent such a situation from happening again, such as limiting the number of meals each person can buy and ending online orders. It said it might deny service to customers who fail to abide by the rules.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe vow to return to the basics of what lies behind the Happy Set, which is about helping to bring smiles to families so we can contribute to the wholesome development of the hearts and bodies of children, who are our future,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n<p>Collecting Pokemon cards is popular among adults and children in many places, with the most popular cards selling for $1,000 or more.<\/p>\n<p>Unusually large crowds were seen flocking to McDonald\u2019s stores when the meals with Pokemon cards went on sale. The cards were later being resold for up to tens of thousands of yen (hundreds of dollars) online.<\/p>\n<p>McDonald\u2019s has been selling Happy Meals for more than 40 years. In Japan, they usually sell for 510 yen ($3.40).<\/p>\n<p><em>Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.threads.com\/@yurikageyama\">https:\/\/www.threads.com\/@yurikageyama<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By YURI KAGEYAMA TOKYO (AP) \u2014 Fast-food chain McDonald\u2019s Japan has canceled a Happy Meal campaign that came with coveted Pokemon cards, apologizing after resellers rushed to buy the meals and then discarded the food, leaving trash outside stores. Related Articles Today in History: August 14, FDR signs Social Security Act Trump-Putin summit on Ukraine&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=929"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":930,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929\/revisions\/930"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}