Adult Pokemon fans face backlash for “ruining” 25th anniversary McDonalds promotion
The Pokemon Company / McDonaldsPokemon fans are furious after McDonald’s restaurants in the United States are selling out of their 25th anniversary Trading Card Game collectibles due to “greedy” adults buying them up.
The Pokemon Company has teamed up with McDonalds to celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2021. For a limited time, a promotional pack of cards featuring starter ‘mon from all eight generations are being given out at the restaurants in the USA, as well as toys.
However, due to the TCG’s explosion in popularity in 2021, collectors have been swarming the fast food giant to scoop up the items. In some cases, adults have been buying hundreds of Happy Meals to score the collectibles.
Game Freak / The Pokemon Company“Greedy” adults ruin Pokemon 25th anniversary McDonald’s promotion
As soon as the promotion went live on February 9, reports began to flood online of McDonalds instantly selling out of their 25th anniversary toys and cards.
Over on the r/Pokemon subreddit, several fans recounted stories of their local restaurant being sold out within hours, and voiced their frustrations.
“Didn’t find any at my McDonald’s. And yeah already seeing bunch of f**kheads trying to hustle these cards. I hope no one buys their s**t for being so f**kin greedy and going out of their way to hoard it,” one fan wrote angrily.
Another user detailed how their store had collectors buying an insane amount of items: “I just got one happy meal. The cashier told me that someone came earlier and bought 200 toys.”
Popular Pokemon content creators such as YouTuber aDrive also faced criticism from a few fans after he had bought over 100 Happy Meals for his video where he opened the packs for his viewers.
“And a big middle finger to all the children that potentially miss out on a Happy Meal now. This aint it man,” a disappointed fan wrote in reaction to the video.
Although it should be pointed out, not everyone was angry about it. Another Pokemon YouTuber JT Valor was praised as he gave away the food from his 10 Happy Meals to the homeless in his city.
I decided to go to McDonald's to grab some of the new Pokemon Card packs! Since you couldn't buy the packs separately I bought 10 happy meals and I'll be giving out the food to homeless in the area 😁
If you only want the cards then do the same!#Pokemon #McDonalds pic.twitter.com/xPb7lNKQw0
— JT Valor (@JT_Valor) February 9, 2021
Overall, the community seemed divided over fans buying multiple promotional items, as the insane popularity of the TCG is ultimately responsible for the Happy Meal chaos. Many children in love with the Nintendo franchise have no chance against the hoard of adults and their credit cards.
If nothing else, the madness caused by the promotion shows that Pokemon has never been more popular. Despite releasing over 25 years ago, it’s now become the highest-grossing media franchise of all time.