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McDonald’s Pokemon frenzy in Japan shows collecting boom’s dark side
The rise of scalping is leaving children in tears and complicating promotion campaigns.
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After a Pokemon trading card promotion went disastrously wrong, McDonald’s Holdings Japan has been rebuked by the Consumer Affairs Agency and is rethinking future campaigns.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
Gearoid Reidy
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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 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
