TOKYO — A Japanese sushi chain was forced to cancel a popular marketing campaign with goods featuring cute hamster-like characters from the hit franchise Chiikawa after its staff stole the freebies to resell online.Conveyor-belt chain Kura Sushi launched its Chiikawa campaign on Aug 21 with plans to distribute a limited number of branded items like pouches and plates on a first-come-first-served basis through the end of September. It also offered customers a chance to win key chains, magnets and other trinkets by trading in empty sushi plates for a turn at a prize-yielding game machine.Earlier this month, Kura Sushi spokesperson Hiroyuki Kosaka told Reuters that virtually every table at its restaurants offering the Chiikawa giveaways had been booked for the rest of the month.But on Sunday, the company abruptly ended the campaign after it confirmed what many fans had suspected: that store staff had stolen the goods and sold them online. Since then, Kura Sushi’s stores have been inundated with calls to cancel reservations, Kosaka said.”We are truly sorry for causing the trouble and disappointing customers,” he said.
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