McDonald’s Japan cancels Chiikawa Happy Meal collab as second wave of toys sell out in 24 hours
McDonald’s Japan has announced the cancellation of the third and final wave of its highly sought-after Chiikawa Happy Meal toys.
This decision comes after the second wave of the Happy Meal toys, which launched on May 23rd, sold out in a mere 24 hours.
According to disappointed fans on social media, many restaurants were sold out before noon.
The initial wave of toys was released on May 16th and sold out within just three days, leading to widespread disappointment among genuine fans and sparking controversy following chaotic scenes at McDonald’s outlets across Japan.
For both the first and second waves of Chiikawa toys, McDonald’s advised that there was a limit of 4 Happy Meals per person.
Reports and viral social media posts have highlighted instances of resellers and “scalpers” purchasing Happy Meals in exceptionally large quantities, often far exceeding the stated limit of four sets per person.
It is unclear how strictly McDonald’s staff enforced this limit, as one video on social media shows a staff member handing over around several bags of food containing around eight Happy Meals and toys.
The initial release of the toys saw scalpers placing a large number of orders and abandoning the food portion of the Happy Meals in stores after removing only the toys.
This wasteful behavior sparked outrage among the public and put a strain on restaurant staff.
Photos circulated online show bags and apartments filled with dozens of Chiikawa toys.
Chiikawa is a wildly popular Japanese manga and anime franchise featuring a trio of adorable, hamster-like animal friends.
The characters’ widespread popularity in Japan, and increasingly across Asia, positioned the McDonald’s Happy Meal collaboration as a major event.
The rapid sell-out of the first wave of Chiikawa toys, which was originally intended to last a full week, forced McDonald’s Japan to issue an apology and bring that part of the promotion to an early end on May 19th.
Despite the strong public reaction and polite requests from McDonald’s Japan for customers to refrain from purchasing for resale, the second wave launched on May 23rd and came to an even swifter end.
This rapid depletion of stock has left many children and families unable to acquire the Chiikawa collectibles.
The cancellation of the third wave highlights McDonald’s Japan’s struggle to manage the unprecedented demand and curb the disruptive activities of scalpers.
As with most Happy Meal toy promotions in Japan, the final week would have seen them distribute any remaining toys from the first and second waves.
This is now no longer possible due to both waves of toys selling out early.
The McDonald’s Japan website now features multiple messages across their Happy Meal pages apologizing to customers and advising that the toys are no longer available.
The above message, one of many on the McDonald’s Japan website, reads:
Due to popular demand, the first and second editions of the Happy Set® “Chiikawa” have been discontinued at many stores, so there will be no third edition.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our many customers for their patronage, and we deeply apologize for not being able to meet the expectations of customers who were looking forward to purchasing the product due to the early discontinuation of sales.
While reselling itself is not illegal in Japan, the ethical implications of bulk purchasing and food waste have drawn widespread condemnation.
This situation echoes past incidents involving other highly sought-after limited-edition merchandise in Japan, including Pokémon and Kirby toys, where similar frenzies and resale issues have occurred.
Source: McDonald’s Japan
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