Latest news with #blindboxes
Times
22-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Labubu-led frivolity a fable of modern China
T here's a generational row brewing in China. At its heart is a fluffy, anthropomorphised monster with a mischievous, buck-toothed smile called Labubu. In keychain form, it has been seen adorning the designer bags of A-listers like Rihanna and David Beckham. Among the young and trendy in China (and increasingly globally), there's a frenzy to collect the latest or rarest iteration. Labubus are not expensive, retailing from 69 yuan each (the equivalent of £7, though in the UK they start from £13.50). But limited stocks and the fact they are sold in 'blind boxes' — you don't know which Labubu you'll get until after purchase — has driven hype and a febrile second-hand market. Earlier this month, a human-sized Labubu sculpture sold for more than one million yuan (£110,000) at a Beijing auction. Shares in Pop Mart, the Hong Kong-listed company behind it, have more than quintupled since the beginning of last year and its stores are the scenes of long queues and occasional fights.
South China Morning Post
20-06-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
China warns of blind box ‘addiction' among country's youth
The official newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party has cautioned against an 'addiction' to blind card packs and blind boxes among the country's youths as the summer holiday approaches. People's Daily called for strict identity verification to curb the 'out-of-control consumption' of blind boxes – opaque packages containing randomly chosen toys, models or cards – by minors in a report published on Friday The items, with their allure of 'unknown surprises,' have become highly sought-after by young consumers, but hide 'commercial traps' that induce impulsive spending, the article said. As the 'guzi economy' or 'goods economy' – merchandise related to anime, games, idols and other copyrighted works – takes hold among China's younger generation, the newspaper's warning echoes regulations enacted four years ago to prevent online gaming addiction among teenagers. Because the exact product within a given blind box or card pack is not known until it is bought and opened, their purchase carries an element of gambling. This is augmented by the varied designs and rarity levels used by merchants to attract consumers, fuelling their desire to collect entire sets. In recent years, blind card packs have gained popularity among children and teenagers for their similarly unpredictable rewards, People's Daily said. 'Irrational consumption is common among children and teenagers, with some spending hundreds or even thousands of yuan in a single transaction to chase rare cards,' the authors concluded after interviewing multiple teenagers.
South China Morning Post
20-06-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Pop Mart's shares get a beating as People's Daily weighs in to rail against ‘blind boxes'
The world's most valuable toymaker is losing some of its appeal after the mouthpiece newspaper of the Communist Party of China poured cold water on its business model and warned against the addictiveness of its wildly popular collectibles. Pop Mart International Group 's shares plunged as much as 6.6 per cent on Friday in Hong Kong after the People's Daily newspaper ran a commentary that railed against the 'wilful consumerism' of so-called blind boxes. The stock has fallen 11 per cent in two days, wiping out HK$36 billion (US$4.58 billion) in market value. The mainstay of Pop Mart's business model is its blind boxes and blind cards, which hide their contents with sealed packaging. That drives collectors into frequent and repeat purchases to get their hands on the rarest and most desired toys or cards, where the chance of finding rare editions has been calculated at less than 2 per cent. These products are 'business traps' designed to use unpredictable rewards to encourage repeat purchases, the People's Daily said, citing legal experts and academics. Minors are especially susceptible given their still-developing self-control and psychological maturity, the newspaper warned, calling for stronger regulations to protect them against these tactics. A girl looked at 'blind boxes' - where their contents are hidden by sealed packaging - at a Pop Mart store in Beijing on June 3 2021. Photo: EPA-EFE With a circulation of 3 million, the People's Daily's editorial stance reflects the thinking of China's policymakers. Chinese authorities issued a directive in 2023 banning the sale of blind boxes to children under eight years old to curb their addiction.
CNA
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CNA
New Labubu collection dropping Jun 13 has the character as food items including cup noodles and shrimp tempura
At this point, it's hard not to notice Labubu figures everywhere. You can't walk down the street without spotting a Labubu charm dangling from someone's bag. With the signature ears and mischievous grin, the monster elves have fans clamouring to get the latest editions. Come Friday (Jun 13), Labubu fans can get their hands on a new series of blind boxes: The Monsters Wacky Mart series, inspired by favourites you can pick up at a convenience store, or konbini. View this post on Instagram A post shared by POP MART (@popmart) There's a cup noodle, a carton of milk, onigiri, corn cob, a bag of chips and a can of sardines, among others. And the secret rare is a Labubu with a microwave. There are three blind boxes to choose from: The Monsters Wacky Mart Series Figures (S$19.99) ,The Monsters Wacky Mart Series Pinch Pendant Blind Box (S$18.99) and The Monsters Wacky Mart Series Fridge Magnet Blind Box (S$19.99). The series will also include plush keychains and accessories. Highlights include The Monsters Wacky Mart Series Earphone Case (S$25.99) featuring a tempura shrimp Labubu that doubles up as a pouch for your earphones and The Monsters Wacky Mart Series Pillow styled as a bag of chips (S$44.99) While the collection is already listed on Pop Mart Singapore's website, it will only be available for purchase from 10am this Friday. Labubu is a character in a series of stories called The Monsters by Hong Kong-born artist Kasing Lung who was raised in the Netherlands. Inspired by Nordic fairy tales, Lung created The Monsters universe in 2015 and modelled his characters after elves, fairies and monsters. The character became a highly sought-after collectible figure globally in April 2024 after Blackpink member Lisa posted an Instagram story of her holding a giant Labubu plush toy and another of her with a Labubu charm.
ABC News
05-06-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Popularity of blind boxes has a lot to do with luck, chance and scarcity
You might not know what Labubus are, but Lucia, 13, sees them all over social media. "I have two," she says. "Influencers use them a lot and they're just always branded, and they're always promoted online." Labubus are elfish-looking plush toys that double as a large key ring and can often be seen clipped on bags. They originated in Hong Kong, as one character from a series of picture books titled The Monsters. To say Labubus are in high demand is an understatement – online, the product can sell out in a matter of minutes. So, when Lucia did manage to get her hands on one, she was, initially, pretty happy about it. "I was finally hopping on the trend that was all over social media," she says. "I feel like I was a bit disappointed because I didn't get the ones that I wanted but like I feel that's kind of on me because it's like a little mystery." Labubus are just one character in the multi-billion-dollar blind-box industry, which hinges a lot of its popularity on luck and chance. The industry is growing rapidly. Pop Mart, the Chinese retailer that sells Labubus and specialises in blind boxes, has a market capitalisation value of $51 billion, and grew 340 per cent in 2024 alone. Blind boxes, also known as mystery boxes, are sealed packages that contain one randomly chosen and distributed product from a larger series. Most of the time, they are toys, trinkets, stationery, jewellery, or even electronic devices. "They're basically low-stakes and low-value items," says Renata Yannoulis, an advertising strategy director at agency TBWA Australia. The earliest version of a blind box dates back to the early 20th century with a Japanese tradition called fukubukuro, where retailers would sell products in unmarked bags at a discounted price. The toy-centred version emerged in the 1960s with gachapon, a vending machine that dispenses toys in plastic capsules. The promise of a random, collectable toy as a strategy to sell products has been used in other parts of the world, too – cereal box prizes in the early 1900s, Kinder Surprises and Happy Meals. While these collectibles may seem cute or harmless, the blind-box model of chance, and the thrill that comes with luck and randomness, is linked to gambling behaviours. "You might find yourself in a Pop Mart store and you're betting that box that you pick up off that shelf that's got the exact Labubu that you are after," Ms Yannoulis says. "You might get to the counter and think, 'I want to hedge my bet. I want to increase my chance because maybe I'm not as lucky as I think. So maybe I'll buy two boxes and double my chances of getting this mystery box right and getting the exact one I want.'" Indyana and Hannah, who are both 18, agree. "It is kind of addictive, and if you don't get what you want, you may never get it," Hannah says. Mia, 18, says it's easy to get swept up in buying the products in bulk to increase the chances of finding the desired collectible. "I feel like after you're like, 'Oh, I spent a lot of money. I probably shouldn't have,'" she says. The scarcity of some blind boxes – Labubus, in particular – has been seen to play a significant role in their popularity and competition around buying one of these products. While part of this is basic supply and demand, the marketing tactic of "manufactured scarcity" is also at play. "Manufactured scarcity is designed to keep people repeat purchasing in pursuit of a particular very niche item that they don't yet have, that a lot of people want," Ms Yannoulis says. "It signals to others that you're potentially expending money, time or effort to get this thing that everybody wants. "These brands and businesses are manufacturing that scarcity by putting a cap on the number of distribution points that you can get these products." Mia and Ella, 17, say the thrill and excitement of blind boxes comes from this scarcity and how hard they are to find. "You see it [blind boxes] all on TikTok and you're like, 'Where did you get it? Where did you get it?'" Mia says. "[It's] the FOMO of missing out, of not having them," Ella says. In 2022, Shanghai introduced strict guidelines in response to the potential harms of blind boxes as a vessel in gambling. The guidelines came in the form of age limits, capped pricing and limiting scarcity. The viral trend of "unboxing" – the act of recording and sharing videos of a product being opened for the first time – is also fuelling demand for collectibles. "You actually get second-hand instant gratification from watching people unbox their own toys," Ms Yannoulis says. Mia and Ella see sharing these videos as a way to engage with the broader blind-box community. "We've got all these videos of us doing them [unboxing]," Ella says. "And you're like, 'Oh my gosh' and then you put it into your Instagram and … you're like, 'Guys, look!'" Mia says. For Hannah, the joy that comes with unboxing is linked to nostalgia. "It's just something that you do as a little kid," she says. "You get excited when you find something that you really want and you can unbox it and, I don't know, it's just an adrenaline, a bit of an adrenaline rush. You're like, 'Yay!'" Unboxing does, however, come at a cost to sustainability, as layers of packaging are used to conceal the collectibles that are often made of plastic themselves. "It is scary to think about the volume of product that will eventually end up in landfill because of this trend when it does, ultimately, die out, let alone the packaging itself," Ms Yannoulis says. Ms Yannoulis says, at best, collectibles can provide moments of joy, but moderation should always be front of mind. "They offer comfort, a little sense of security, a little bit of wonder, a little bit of joy … but it's never going to provide that long-term fulfilment or that meaningful positivity in your life," she says. "So, for people to obsess over and put such a high value on it, it can become a little dangerous. "If you have one Labubu, it's probably enough." "I think remembering they're just toys at the end of the day, and just don't go around buying, like, a hundred," Ella says. "It's fun for everyone. It's fun to share!" Mia says.
