McDonald’s Pokemon frenzy shows the collecting boom’s dark side

IN JAPAN, they don’t call it a Happy Meal. The McDonald’s option with a toy thrown in is known as a Happy Set. But that’s where the differences end: Kids and adults on both sides of the Pacific love them – though sometimes for the wrong reasons.

McDonald’s Holdings Co Japan, which operates the Golden Arches in its third-largest market, is finding this out to its peril. After a Pokemon trading card promotion went disastrously wrong, it has been rebuked by the Consumer Affairs Agency and is rethinking future campaigns.

The promotion seemed innocuous enough, offering two cards with every meal, one fixed and one random. But stores were inundated with scalpers seeking to flip cards online – and social media flooded with photos of dumped, uneaten meals. Children were left in tears when the restaurants ran out.