Adults fought over Pokémon-related merchandise at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Now the museum has stopped the campaign with the coveted promo card “for security reasons”. However, the sale of merchandise continues.
On September 27th, the Pokémon Company, in collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, unveiled a brand new artwork and a new TCG promo card featuring “Pikachu in a Gray Fedora.”
But it was precisely this promo card that a number of greedy players had their sights on. Because they didn’t want to have the card for themselves, they wanted to sell it on later at a high price in order to make real money with it. For security reasons, the action in the museum has now been stopped.
Greedy people are buying up merchandise shops to make money on eBay and the like
What exactly went on in the museum? On the first day, hundreds of people came to the museum’s souvenir shop to buy everything they could get their hands on. This also includes the rare “Pikachu with Gray Fedora” promo card.
A little later, the promo cards and other souvenirs ended up on eBay and other platforms at high prices.
Museum ends the campaign: In response to the furor, the Van Gogh Museum has now updated its website and emphasized that the safety of visitors and employees will be a priority in the future:
The Van Gogh Museum and The Pokémon Company International take the safety of visitors and employees very seriously.
Recently, a small group of individuals have created an undesirable situation that has led us to make the difficult decision to remove the Pikachu Gray Fedora promo card from the museum.
This allows visitors to experience this special collection of Pokémon paintings and the rest of the museum in a safe and enjoyable way.
The exhibition is still open: However, the exhibition will continue and will not be affected by the end of the campaign with the card. The merchandise shop will also continue to operate. However, there are now restrictions for buyers who are only allowed to buy a certain amount of merchandise. It remains to be seen whether this will get the problems under control.
The art exhibition can be visited at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam until January 7, 2024.
In other countries there is also a bad habit of adults hunting for rare Pokémon cards. In Japan, for example, adults buy Pokémon cards from children:
Some stores now ban sales to adults.