What brings more childhood joy than Pokémon and a McDonald’s happy meal? For those who don’t know, Pokémon teamed up with McDonald’s to celebrate their 25th anniversary. For a limited time, you can get a pack of 25th anniversary Pokémon cards and your very own Pikachu-styled happy meal.
There are 50 cards in total to collect and trade. It includes Pikachu and all of the first 25 partner Pokémon. I got my own happy meal, and it’s so cute. I got a foiled version of a Fennekin card, and I love it. I may be too old for happy meals, but it’s a nice treat once in a while.
When they first came out, my friends and I got excited about it. We’re all in college and maybe “too old” for happy meals, but that didn’t stop us from buying one. We texted each other our boxes and showed the cards we got. My friends wanted me to do an unboxing for them since I was the first one to buy one.
It was really cute seeing people post pictures of their kids with the cards. Pokémon first came out in 1996, and yet, it’s still so popular in today’s media in multiple countries. Pokémon can still be enjoyed by people of all ages. It’s also a good marketing strategy. Since happy meals are designed for children, this is a good way to introduce the game and show to a new generation.
There were, however, downsides to this promotion. While it’s okay for adults to buy one for nostalgia, some take more than necessary. Because it’s so accessible, sellers have been buying a lot of happy meals.
Photos went around social media about people buying dozens of them, and because they’re in so much demand, some stores had to limit the number of cards given. There were also people getting the cards just to sell them online.
Since they’re limited, the future value of the cards will skyrocket. Collectors will be willing to buy them for a high price after they’re no longer in stock which means the prices are more expensive than they should be.
There were people selling the cards on eBay for at least $30 and full boxes for $1000. I even saw people selling the Pikachu boxes the food comes in. It got so bad that restrictions had to be applied to McDonald’s about the cards.
It honestly gave me mixed feelings about this 25th-anniversary promotion. This was something that was supposed to be cute and fun, but there were both positive and negative effects of this. It was a good idea, but some people like to ruin it.
But one thing’s for sure — Pokémon’s impact is no joke and will last a long time.