McDonald's Japan is rethinking its One Piece Happy Meal after scalpers caused Pokémon card chaos

McDonald’s Japan recently opted to postpone the One Piece Happy Meal promotion. Notably, the latest decision emerged due to the consequences emerging from the company’s Pokémon toy giveaway earlier this month, where a lot of food was wasted with the general public taking away the award and throwing the food with the package, as per Japan Today.

McDonald’s shared their decision to postpone the new product’s promotion in a press release obtained by Japan Today on August 21, 2025. The statement revealed that the campaign was supposed to start this week, on Friday, August 29.

Apart from that, the press release says that they have opted to recheck the operations of Happy Meal, leading to a delay in the promotion. However, the company opened up on the alternative step that they have taken to satisfy the customers and said:

“During the period in which the campaign was scheduled to take place, we will instead be distributing toys from previous campaigns to Happy Meal customers.”

According to Japan Today, the new product was named One Piece Card Game Happy Meals, and it included characters from the famous manga series One Piece. The official handle of One Piece on X (formerly Twitter) also reshared the press release, which was originally issued on August 20, 2025, and wrote:

“Moving forward, we will provide further details on the official website and official X as soon as they are decided.”

McDonald’s Japan’s press release also reads that certain media outlets have been planning to publish announcement articles in advance for the new campaign. However, the company requested everyone to avoid approaching anyone, including the rights holders, for anything related to the upcoming product.

Pokémon cards with McDonald’s Happy Meals created a lot of trouble earlier this month

The fast food chain attempted to impress customers this month with the Pokémon cards that were offered in exchange for one Happy Meal. While the cards were limited, customers were reportedly spotted lining up from the early morning hours at various outlets of McDonald’s, as stated by Sora News 24. A Pokémon toy was also added to the same offer, and the Pokémon Happy Meal was sold out by around 7 a.m. at certain outlets.

According to Sora News 24, the excitement for the items added to the Happy Meals also led to a situation where a lot of food was left behind and wasted since a majority of the people purchased the product to get the cards.

While glimpses of the wasted food went viral on social media, McDonald’s Japan responded in a statement shared through their website on August 13, 2025. The outlet stated that they are well aware of everything that happened as soon as people learned about the Pokémon Happy Meal. The statement also reads:

“McDonald’s deeply apologizes for the inconvenience and distress caused to our regular customers, the crews working at our restaurants, residents of the surrounding neighborhoods, and the owners of the buildings in which our restaurants operate as tenants.”

The outlet said that they were changing certain rules for the sale of similar products, stating that they might not allow mobile orders or deliveries. McDonald’s Japan mentioned that they will share a clarification in advance, adding that they won’t allow repeated selling of a particular item.

Furthermore, the outlet stated that anyone who tries to intimidate the staff members or does not follow the rules will not be allowed to purchase anything.

“Customers whose actions have clearly interfered with the provision of the promotion’s services when purchasing Pokémon Happy Meals, or who have records of making bulk purchases, will have their accounts removed from the official McDonald’s app, as per its terms of service”, the statement reads.

Other restrictions were also implemented from August 15, 2025, with only three Happy Meals being allowed to be purchased by a particular group.