Cabbage Patch Kids. Beanie Babies. Fidget spinners. Do you remember these toy trends? (If you don’t, your parents or grandparents probably do.) The newest craze is Labubus.
Labubus are plush toys. They come in different sizes. They’ve also become a fashion trend. The figurines dangle from purses, keychains, and celebrity arms around the world.
Artist Kasing Lung (LOONG) created Labubus. He was born in Hong Kong, but he spent part of his childhood in the Netherlands. There, he read Nordic fairy tales. His goal was to get better at speaking Dutch. But the stories did something more than teach him language. They inspired his artwork, which later inspired Labubu dolls. The name Labubu comes from the main group of characters in Mr. Lung’s graphic novels. Mr. Lung introduced his dolls to the world in 2015.
The toys got really popular when Mr. Lung joined forces with a Chinese toy company called Pop Mart. Labubus are sold directly only from Pop Mart—online or in stores. (But some individuals and other companies buy them from Pop Mart and resell them—at much higher prices.)
The toys are sold in “blind boxes.” These are non-see-through packages. Buyers don’t know what they’re getting. That adds some excitement to each purchase. Many buyers buy more and more . . . in hopes of getting what they want.
The result? More consumerism—people buying far more than they need. And when it comes to Labubus, consumerism gets pretty extreme. Nearly 1,000 people bid on a four-foot-tall Labubu at an art auction in China in June. It sold for more than $170,000! (What else could you do with that much money?)
Some Labubus in their blind boxes cost about $27.99 each in the United States. But rare ones can sell for far more.
Why? God richly provides all things for us to enjoy. But when we value earthly treasures too much, we miss out on the true riches we have in Christ.
