Monsters And Memes: Labubu Dolls Ride China Soft-power Wave
Small, fuzzy and baring sharp teeth, Chinese toymaker Pop Mart's Labubu monster dolls have taken over the world, drawing excited crowds at international stores and adorning the handbags of celebrities such as Rihanna and Cher.
Beijing-based Pop Mart is part of a rising tide of Chinese cultural exports gaining traction abroad, furry ambassadors of a "cool" China even in places associated more with negative public opinion of Beijing such as Europe and North America.
Labubus, which typically sell for around $40, are released in limited quantities and sold in "blind boxes", meaning buyers don't know the exact model they will receive.
The dolls are "a bit quirky and ugly and very inclusive, so people can relate", interior designer Lucy Shitova told AFP at a Pop Mart store in London, where in-person sales of Labubus have been suspended over fears that fans could turn violent in their quest for the toys.
"Now everything goes viral... because of social media. And yes, it's cool. It's different."
While neighbouring East Asian countries South Korea and Japan are globally recognised for their high-end fashion, cinema and pop songs, China's heavily censored film and music industry have struggled to attract international audiences, and the country's best-known clothing exporter is fast-fashion website Shein.
There have been few success stories of Chinese companies selling upmarket goods under their own brands, faced with stereotypes of cheap and low-quality products.
"It has been hard for the world's consumers to perceive China as a brand-creating nation," the University of Maryland's Fan Yang told AFP.
Pop Mart has bucked the trend, spawning copycats dubbed by social media users as "lafufus" and detailed YouTube videos on how to verify a doll's authenticity.
Brands such as designer womenswear label Shushu/Tong, Shanghai-based Marchen and Beijing-based handbag maker Songmont have also gained recognition abroad over the past few years.
"It might just be a matter of time before even more Chinese brands become globally recognisable," Yang said.
Through viral exports like Labubu, China is "undergoing a soft-power shift where its products and image are increasingly cool among young Westerners," said Allison Malmsten, an analyst at China-based Daxue Consulting.
Malmsten said she believed social media could boost China's global image "similar to that of Japan in the 80s to 2010s with Pokemon and Nintendo".
Video app TikTok -- designed by China's ByteDance -- paved the way for Labubu's ascent when it became the first Chinese-branded product to be indispensable for young people internationally.
Joshua Kurlantzick from the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) told AFP that "TikTok probably played a role in changing consumers' minds about China".
TikTok, which is officially blocked within China but still accessible with VPN software, has over one billion users, including what the company says is nearly half of the US population.
The app has become a focus of national security fears in the United States, with a proposed ban seeing American TikTok users flock to another Chinese app, Rednote, where they were welcomed as digital "refugees".
A conduit for Chinese social media memes and fashion trends, TikTok hosts over 1.7 million videos about Labubu.
Cultural exports can "improve the image of China as a place that has companies that can produce globally attractive goods or services", CFR's Kurlantzick told AFP.
"I don't know how much, if at all, this impacts images of China's state or government," he said, pointing to how South Korea's undeniable soft power has not translated into similar levels of political might.
While plush toys alone might not translate into actual power, the United States' chaotic global image under the Trump presidency could benefit perceptions of China, the University of Maryland's Yang said.
"The connection many make between the seeming decline of US soft power and the potential rise in China's global image may reflect how deeply intertwined the two countries are in the minds of people whose lives are impacted by both simultaneously," she told AFP.
At the very least, Labubu's charms appear to be promoting interest in China among the younger generation.
"It's like a virus. Everyone just wants it," Kazakhstani mother-of-three Anelya Batalova told AFP at Pop Mart's theme park in Beijing.
Qatari Maryam Hammadi, 11, posed for photos in front of a giant Labubu statue.
"In our country, they love Labubu," she said.
"So, when they realise that the origin of Labubu is in China, they'd like to come to see the different types of Labubu in China." A visitor poses for a picture at the Pop Land them park AFP Shoppers browse for Labubu dolls at a Pop Mart pop-up store in in Bangkok AFP The Labubu dolls have taken the world by storm, and a Beijing auction house sold one four-foot-tall sculpture of the viral plush toy character for more than $150,000 AFP
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Int'l Business Times
7 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
Monsters And Memes: Labubu Dolls Ride China Soft-power Wave
Small, fuzzy and baring sharp teeth, Chinese toymaker Pop Mart's Labubu monster dolls have taken over the world, drawing excited crowds at international stores and adorning the handbags of celebrities such as Rihanna and Cher. Beijing-based Pop Mart is part of a rising tide of Chinese cultural exports gaining traction abroad, furry ambassadors of a "cool" China even in places associated more with negative public opinion of Beijing such as Europe and North America. Labubus, which typically sell for around $40, are released in limited quantities and sold in "blind boxes", meaning buyers don't know the exact model they will receive. The dolls are "a bit quirky and ugly and very inclusive, so people can relate", interior designer Lucy Shitova told AFP at a Pop Mart store in London, where in-person sales of Labubus have been suspended over fears that fans could turn violent in their quest for the toys. "Now everything goes viral... because of social media. And yes, it's cool. It's different." While neighbouring East Asian countries South Korea and Japan are globally recognised for their high-end fashion, cinema and pop songs, China's heavily censored film and music industry have struggled to attract international audiences, and the country's best-known clothing exporter is fast-fashion website Shein. There have been few success stories of Chinese companies selling upmarket goods under their own brands, faced with stereotypes of cheap and low-quality products. "It has been hard for the world's consumers to perceive China as a brand-creating nation," the University of Maryland's Fan Yang told AFP. Pop Mart has bucked the trend, spawning copycats dubbed by social media users as "lafufus" and detailed YouTube videos on how to verify a doll's authenticity. Brands such as designer womenswear label Shushu/Tong, Shanghai-based Marchen and Beijing-based handbag maker Songmont have also gained recognition abroad over the past few years. "It might just be a matter of time before even more Chinese brands become globally recognisable," Yang said. Through viral exports like Labubu, China is "undergoing a soft-power shift where its products and image are increasingly cool among young Westerners," said Allison Malmsten, an analyst at China-based Daxue Consulting. Malmsten said she believed social media could boost China's global image "similar to that of Japan in the 80s to 2010s with Pokemon and Nintendo". Video app TikTok -- designed by China's ByteDance -- paved the way for Labubu's ascent when it became the first Chinese-branded product to be indispensable for young people internationally. Joshua Kurlantzick from the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) told AFP that "TikTok probably played a role in changing consumers' minds about China". TikTok, which is officially blocked within China but still accessible with VPN software, has over one billion users, including what the company says is nearly half of the US population. The app has become a focus of national security fears in the United States, with a proposed ban seeing American TikTok users flock to another Chinese app, Rednote, where they were welcomed as digital "refugees". A conduit for Chinese social media memes and fashion trends, TikTok hosts over 1.7 million videos about Labubu. Cultural exports can "improve the image of China as a place that has companies that can produce globally attractive goods or services", CFR's Kurlantzick told AFP. "I don't know how much, if at all, this impacts images of China's state or government," he said, pointing to how South Korea's undeniable soft power has not translated into similar levels of political might. While plush toys alone might not translate into actual power, the United States' chaotic global image under the Trump presidency could benefit perceptions of China, the University of Maryland's Yang said. "The connection many make between the seeming decline of US soft power and the potential rise in China's global image may reflect how deeply intertwined the two countries are in the minds of people whose lives are impacted by both simultaneously," she told AFP. At the very least, Labubu's charms appear to be promoting interest in China among the younger generation. "It's like a virus. Everyone just wants it," Kazakhstani mother-of-three Anelya Batalova told AFP at Pop Mart's theme park in Beijing. Qatari Maryam Hammadi, 11, posed for photos in front of a giant Labubu statue. "In our country, they love Labubu," she said. "So, when they realise that the origin of Labubu is in China, they'd like to come to see the different types of Labubu in China." A visitor poses for a picture at the Pop Land them park AFP Shoppers browse for Labubu dolls at a Pop Mart pop-up store in in Bangkok AFP The Labubu dolls have taken the world by storm, and a Beijing auction house sold one four-foot-tall sculpture of the viral plush toy character for more than $150,000 AFP
Int'l Business Times
a day ago
- Int'l Business Times
Belgrade Show Plots Path Out Of Balkan Labyrinth Of Pain
Life in 1990s former Yugoslavia was a nightmare of war, economic collapse and an all-powerful mafia. But a new exhibition in Belgrade hopes plunging visitors back into this labyrinth of trauma and suffering may actually help the Balkans find a way to escape its troubled past. The show tells how a once-prosperous country was ripped apart by rampant nationalism and devastating violence as much of the rest of Europe basked in post-Cold War optimism and the beginning of the digital revolution. "I feel like crying," Vesna Latinovic, a 63-year-old from Belgrade told AFP as she toured the exhibition, visibly shaken. "Labyrinth of the Nineties" opens with a video collage of popular television intros and music videos, followed by a speech from Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic, who ended his days in prison being tried for war crimes. Deeper into the maze, as the multi-ethnic state begins to crumble, nationalist street signs replace socialist ones, inflammatory newspaper headlines hang from walls, and infamous Serbian warlord Arkan even croons an Elvis tune on late-night TV. "We've forgotten so much -- how intense and dramatic it was, how deeply human lives were affected, and how many were tragically cut short," visitor Latinovic said. At least 130,000 were killed -- with 11,000 still missing -- as Yugoslavia spiralled into the worst war in Europe since 1945. Millions more were displaced as neighbour turned on neighbour. The exhibition features haunting images of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo under siege, civilians under sniper fire, refugees and concentration camps. Those of strikes, worthless, hyper-inflated banknotes and descriptions of the rise of a new class of tycoons and oligarchs reveal a society imploding. The labyrinth in the show is meant to be a "powerful metaphor to show that we entered the maze of the 1990s and we still haven't found the way out," said historian Dubravka Stojanovic, who co-curated the show. At the labyrinth's heart is 1995 -- a year when over 8,000 Muslim men and boys were massacred by Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica, and 200,000 Serbs were displaced from Croatia in the fall of the Republic of Serbian Krajina. That year the Schengen Agreement removed borders within the European Union, but at the same time new borders were being thrown up between the former Yugoslav republics. "It was all completely absurd... The wars only brought suffering to innocents, while those responsible were never truly held accountable," said a visitor called Cedomir, 39, as he left the exhibition. The curators say all sides involved in the wars -- including EU members Croatia and Slovenia -- deny, downplay or try to forget the crimes. The show is all about stopping sources and testimonies from fading into oblivion, Stojanovic said. "In every country, we see the same phenomenon -- no one speaks of their own responsibility, only the guilt of others. This makes true reconciliation impossible, let alone the building of trust in the region," she added. "But every labyrinth must have an exit," the historian said. "And this exhibition aims to help people search for and find that way out." That's why the labyrinth includes a room dedicated to heroes -- those who refused to participate in the war -- and a room honouring independent media and anti-war activists. Those heroes include Bosnian Serb Srdan Aleksic who died after being beaten into a coma after he stepped in to defend a Muslim neighbour, and Nedjeljko "Nedo" Galic, a Bosnian Croat, who with his wife managed to get some 1,000 Muslims and Serbs out of Croatian concentration camps near Mostar. It also features moments of joy amid darkness, like swimming beneath a bombed bridge or ravers partying in a shattered country. Hopeful graffiti that appeared on a wartime wall in Zagreb is also reproduced, "Love will save us." "Regardless of religion, nationality or political affiliation, love knows no borders," Sofia, a visitor from Skopje in North Macedonia wrote in the exhibition's guestbook. "Labyrinth of the Nineties" is set to be made into a permanent exhibition in Belgrade. It has already been shown in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo and is also open in the Montenegrin capital, Podgorica, with plans for shows in Croatia and Slovenia in the future. The heroics of Bosnian Croat 'Neđo' Galic (L) and Bosnian Serb Srdan Aleksic, who tried to save their neighbours, are featured in the exhibition AFP A 'Welcome to Sarajevo" sign in the new exhibition, 'Labyrinth of the Nineties', in Belgrade AFP
Int'l Business Times
2 days ago
- Int'l Business Times
iPhones Out, BlackBerrys In: Gen-Z Turns to Dumbphones in Bid to Break Free From Tech Addiction
In a surprising shift, a new trend is emerging among Gen Z: ditching their feature-rich smartphones for simpler, less distracting 'dumbphones.' This move isn't about nostalgia; it's a deliberate step by young people to reclaim their focus and break free from the constant pull of digital life. Many young people are trying to reconnect with the world around them. Their chosen method for this shift? 'Dumbphones' are reminiscent of the BlackBerrys that were popular during the millennial era. The Retro Revival It's quite ironic, however, that Gen Z is using social media—a platform that these simpler phones don't even support—to spread awareness of their move. A clear trend has been surfacing for months now: Young individuals, from their late teens to their mid-twenties, are showing a renewed interest in 'retro' technology, including Walkmans, iPods, and digital cameras. Notably, this latest Y2K craze is utterly baffling to older generations. On TikTok, a quick search for 'Blackberry' brings up countless videos of Gen Z users. These clips show them either buying old BlackBerry handsets from sites like eBay or unearthing them from their parents' closets. They then adorn them with rhinestones and keychains, proudly displaying the satisfyingly clicky, ASMR-worthy keyboards. For many, this BlackBerry trend simply extends the core of the ongoing 2000s nostalgia. This era was defined by popular aesthetics such as Britney Spears-inspired McBling, cyberfuturism, and Frutiger Aero. 'We've come full circle,' is a sentiment echoed in dozens of comments found on posts by TikTok content creators, such as @notchonnie, who uses her platform to showcase her extensive retro tech collection. A post shared by instagram 'I'm so sick of Apple, I would give up just about everything for a BlackBerry,' one user declared. Commenters also shared how they'd searched platforms like Facebook Marketplace, eBay, and Back Market, hoping to find BlackBerry phones to replace their current smartphones. Breaking the Digital Chains For just a few hundred pounds, these Gen Z's, tired of constant digital demands, find a sense of calm. This choice, however, often puzzles older generations. They certainly remember the unreliable service, tiny keypads, and complicated ways of using these old devices. Compared to the cost of a new iPhone, which can now easily exceed up to $70 (£51.99) a month, and unlimited data plans that often reach seventy pounds a month, the BlackBerry is seen as an obvious choice for younger generations. This burgeoning anti-smartphone movement also offers many genuine opportunities to reconnect with the offline world and to become more mindful of what they consume digitally. Pascal Forget, a tech columnist in Montreal, conveyed this perspective to CBC News, observing: 'The smartphone is not a source of enjoyment anymore.' 'It used to be fun, but now [people are] addicted to it, so they want to go back to simpler times using a simpler device,' Forget noted. 'These are supposed to be the best moments of our life, but you look around, and people are scrolling,' Sammy Palazzolo, a TikTok content creator who uses a flip phone part-time, told USA Today. Reclaiming Real Life Despite being raised in the digital era, Generation Z and older members of Generation Alpha are starting to notice a pervasive reality: almost everyone, everywhere, seems perpetually engrossed by their phones. A 2024 study from the Pew Research Centre highlights a notable change: almost fifty per cent of teenagers today describe themselves as being online 'almost constantly'. This is a considerable jump from ten years earlier when only twenty-four per cent of adolescents reported the same. Some individuals have even reported experiencing the phantom sensation of a smartphone notification, while others admit that pressing the 'on' button has become nothing short of an automatic reflex. 'It just basically created this pattern where I was anxious, and so I'd open my smartphone, and then I would hate myself for opening my smartphone, which made me more anxious,' Charlie Fisher, a 20-year-old college student, told USA Today. Is Simpler the New Smart? To help with his digital detox, Fisher swapped his iPhone for a flip phone, and he has not regretted the change. 'I've been seeing things more like when I was a kid,' Fisher explained, shedding light on his recently discovered phone-free lifestyle. 'You really see things for how they are in the physical world, and your emotions are really attached to that,' he added. Beyond their lower cost, flip phones and 2000s-era tech, such as the BlackBerry, are believed by Gen Z to encourage more meaningful time with loved ones, foster new hobbies away from endless scrolling and binge-watching, and help achieve a better work-life balance. This naturally leads to a compelling question: could these young people truly be onto something significant? Originally published on IBTimes UK
