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Goodbye Hello Kitty, Hello Despicable Me Minions!
Little fluffy Japanese cats in cute outfits, tasty treats called ‘McDonalds Happy Meals’ created solely for children: who would have thought the marriage of the two would cause such an unholy social media storm?
Yet the Singapore HQ of the world’s most successful fast food outlet is being charged with a heinous crime: not being able to supply Singaporeans with enough limited edition Hello Kitty plush toys.
On the McDonalds Facebook page,
Faustina Chay weighed in: “It is extremely disappointing that there are no Hello Kitty toys available! And it's ridiculous that McDonald's is not accepting upfront payment for something that I am entitled to having bought two meals.”
Hello Kitty: Only While Stocks Last
And that was one of the milder comments. Despite Singapore’s long-standing love affair with the Japanese character, McDonalds seemed unprepared for the near-melees that were to take place both online and in some of the restaurants, resulting from the (very) limited stocks. It should be noted that McDonalds did increase supplies by 40% on previous promotions, but this proved inadequate in quenching Singapore’s thirst for Hello Kitty merchandise.‘Singing Bone’ Hello Kitty on eBay
Usual Singapore politeness was found lacking in restaurants across the island, as queues were jumped and squabbles broke out over how many plush toys each customer was entitled to. One of the most popular plush toys, the ‘Singing Bone’ character, ended up on eBay in scores, with some concern from McDonalds that their own staff had put a number up for sale on the auction site:"We take the conduct of our staff very seriously and if any of them are found to have misappropriated the Kitties for personal gain, we will not hesitate to take appropriate action," warned McDonalds.