Discarding Hamburgers Just to Get Limited-Edition Gifts
McDonald's Japan has issued an official apology following a large-scale hoarding incident and controversy over food waste that occurred during a recent promotional giveaway event. The company also announced strong preventative measures, including the potential revocation of official app membership for customers who violate the rules.
Discarding Hamburgers After Taking Only the Limited-Edition Freebies
The controversy began with a Happy Meal giveaway event. Starting on August 8, McDonald's Japan launched a campaign offering popular Pok?mon toys and trading cards to customers who purchased the Happy Meal set, which is a hamburger set menu for children. At McDonald's, the Happy Meal set comes with new toys or other freebies each month.
However, since Pok?mon toys and cards are highly sought after not only by children but also by collectors worldwide, lines formed outside stores from the very first day of the event. Resellers, aiming for the giveaway items, repeatedly purchased Happy Meal sets and left the unwanted hamburgers discarded right outside the stores.
Numerous photos of unopened hamburger sets left behind were shared on local social networking services (SNS). One user commented, "Resellers are taking only the Pok?mon cards and dumping the hamburgers in nearby buildings." Japanese users criticized the situation, saying, "It's such a waste to throw away food," "They've created a mountain of trash with perfectly good hamburgers," and "How can such wastefulness be allowed?"
Although McDonald's limited purchases to a maximum of five sets per person, it was confirmed that some customers repeatedly visited stores and bought dozens of sets. As a result, the event was urgently terminated on August 10, one day earlier than originally scheduled.
McDonald's Japan Announces Preventative Measures
As the controversy grew, McDonald's Japan stated, "We apologize for any inconvenience caused to our customers," and emphasized, "We do not tolerate the purchase of Happy Meal sets for resale purposes or the abandonment and disposal of food."
As preventative measures, the company announced: ▲ strict enforcement of quantity limits ▲ refusal of sales to customers who violate rules such as exceeding quantity limits, making repeated purchases, or threatening staff ▲ revocation of official app membership for rule violators ▲ requests to secondhand trading platform operators to implement measures preventing hoarding. McDonald's Japan added, "We will continue to gather feedback from customers and store employees to further improve our sales practices."
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