McDonald’s Japan Cancels One Piece Card Game Promo Because of How Bad the Pokémon TCG One Went
McDonald’s Japan recently canceled a second trading card promo in the wake of its Pokémon TCG Happy Meal fiasco. A One Piece Card Game partnership was planned to kick off on August 29. However, due to the bad behavior of scalpers and speculators, it was decided to postpone the upcoming Happy Meal campaign indefinitely.
McDonald’s Japan Cancels One Piece Card Game Promo
As we previously reported, McDonald’s Japan ran a Pokémon TCG promotion that was scheduled to take place from August 9 to 11. However, the behavior of some customers was so bad that the company had to end the campaign after just one day.
Scalpers and speculators hoping to resell the free cards swamped locations by the droves. After receiving the special two-card pack, many of them abandoned the food either in the restaurant or discarded it nearby, which led to outrage on social media.
Understandably, McDonald’s Japan wasn’t thrilled for a repeat of the situation. In a recent memo, the company indefinitely postponed the not-yet-announced One Piece Card Game Happy Meal promo. Additionally, a “Let’s Play with Cinnamoroll” Happy Meal Book Set, set to debut on August 29 alongside the One Piece Card Game promo, was pushed back to September 12.
The (machine-translated) McDonald’s Japan memo reads:
“As part of our review of Happy Meal–related promotions, we will be canceling the Happy Meal campaign that had been scheduled to begin on Friday, August 29.
During this period, customers who purchase a Happy Meal will instead receive toys and other items from past campaigns.
Please note that although some media outlets have already published advance notices regarding this campaign, we kindly ask that you refrain from directing inquiries to the rights holders, manufacturers, or media outlets involved.
[Campaigns that had been scheduled for August 29 (Friday)]
Happy Meal “One Piece Card Game”
Happy Meal Book Set “Let’s Play with Cinnamoroll!”Furthermore, the Happy Meal Book Set “Let’s Play with Cinnamoroll!” (picture book), originally planned for the same day, has been postponed to Friday, September 12.”
Additionally, the official One Piece Card Game X account referred customers to the above announcement:
The fact that McDonald’s Japan is willing to forego increased profits by canceling these campaigns shows just how negatively the company and the public perceived the Pokémon TCG promo. Unfortunately, we don’t know which cards would have been available during the One Piece Card Game promo, or if McDonald’s Japan will eventually go forward with the campaign.
