To be really honest, I ain’t a fan of Hello Kitty and last year, when McDonald’s launched their McDonaldland Hello Kitty Plushies, the campaign did not really cause as much stir as this year’s Hello Kitty Fairy Tales.
Just how big was the hoo-hah yesterday and today?
It’s really big!
Yesterday, Jacqueline and I were in our car driving from one end of Singapore to the other end and all over the island, there were long queues of people waiting to lay their hands on the Hello Kitty Plushies. When we were at the King Albert Park McDonald’s Outlet; two Police Patrol Cars, 1 Traffic Police [TP] Bike, and 1 Land Transport Authority [LTA] Officer Bike were deployed to manage the chaotic traffic conditions at the drive-thru and this wasn’t the only isolated case that happened. In fact, it occurred at other McDonald’s drive-thru at Kallang, East Coast Park, Ang Mo Kio Park, and many more. The Police were even called in to manage disputes by the customers and that’s only one part of the problem. What happens then if there are emergencies that needs immediate attention and most of the resources have been used to attend to these minor cases?
The other problem is, why did McDonald’s allow customers to purchase 4 Hello Kitty Plushies instead of limiting it to just 1 per person? If the Singing Bone Hello Kitty Plushie is indeed a limited edition, then shouldn’t McDonald’s restrict it to 1 plushie per person so that more people could have the chance of owning it? What exactly is the rationale for allowing customers to purchase 4 Hello Kitty Plushies if it is a limited edition? While I do understand that there will be people buying on behalf of their family members and friends, it would have been better if they could just limit it to 2 plushies per person or even just limit it to 1 plushie per person so that there won’t be people taking advantage of this situation and reselling the plushies.
All across the island, there were many people queueing up to get the Singing Bone Hello Kitty Plushies and the motives of the people were aplenty. Some of those people queuing up are genuine Hello Kitty fans and some of them could be fathers queueing up to get the plushies for their children; brothers queueing up to get the plushies for their sisters; boyfriends queueing up to get the plushies for their girlfriends; husbands queueing up to get the plushies for their wives; and whatever the motives were, I am very sure that they were doing it just to put a smile on the faces of their children, sisters, girlfriends, wives, or loved ones.
However, it is really saddening to see and hear that there are quite a number of people out there whom are trying to take advantage of the Hello Kitty Fairy Tales Promotion and gain some quick profits from it. Resellers are now selling the Hello Kitty Plushies for an exorbitant price and it is really disgusting how some people try to make a profit out of this seemingly harmless Hello Kitty campaign that you have rolled out. I really believe more could have been done to minimise the damage and it would have been better if you could increase your supplies of the Singing Bone Hello Kitty Plushies. Even though you may have brought in 40% more plushies this year as compared to previous years, the fact that you allowed each customer to purchase 4 plushies per transaction doesn’t help to alleviate the situation.
Together with other genuine Hello Kitty collectors, I am crossing my fingers and hoping that you will have a re-launch of the Singing Bone Hello Kitty plushies so that those who did not have the opportunity to own it will be able to make their collections complete. I sincerely hope that you will look into this matter and consider to re-launch the Singing Bone Hello Kitty Plushies so that it will both be a win-win situation for McDonald’s and genuine Hello Kitty collectors. Afterall, I’m pretty sure Ronald McDonald would want to put a smile on everyone’s face.
To Hello Kitty Fans:
I am not a Hello Kitty Fan but I’m an avid collector of plushies. Like you, my aim was to have a complete set of Hello Kitty Plushies so that I could display it at home but now, it looks like I have to buy it from other sources instead of sitting down at McDonald’s to enjoy a satisfying meal.
I’m hoping that McDonald’s will re-launch the Singing Bone Hello Kitty Plushies so that the rest of us could own it and make our collections complete. While I know how disappointed and upset some of you might be, please don’t be a fool and let those resellers rip you off your hard earned money. Rather, let the craze and buzz die down first and then the price will eventually normalise. From what I see, there are definitely more supplies of the Singing Bone Hello Kitty Plushies than genuine Hello Kitty collectors so if let’s say McDonald’s does indeed have a re-launch, the supplies that the resellers are hoarding onto will definitely drop in value.
Also, if you see resellers selling you the Singing Bone Hello Kitty Plushies for more than $20, please let it go. Right now, what all of us really need is a time-out so that we don’t let our minds be clouded. When the dust has more or less settled down, things will become clearer and you will be able to act rationally and not impulsively.
To add on, some of you might see that the Singing Bone Hello Kitty Plushies have been put up on bidding sites and in case you’re wondering why would anyone bid for the the Singing Bone Hello Kitty Plushies at such a high price, there are people actually rigging the system by having their own friends bidding for it. Hence, please don’t bid or buy the Singing Bone Hello Kitty Plushies for such an exorbitant price.
On a lighter note, there are sources selling the Singing Bone Hello Kitty Plushies for less than $10 but it will take some time for it to arrive in Singapore. Since we are genuine Hello Kitty collectors, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t mind waiting as good stuffs are definitely worth waiting for. So, once you get your Singing Bone Hello Kitty Plushies, all those resellers will have no place to sell the Singing Bone Hello Kitty Plushies and they would have wasted their time, money, energy, and effort for being so greedy and kiasu. When that day comes, its your turn to stand there and laugh at the resellers.
