A Chinese firm behind a viral soft toy has seen its profits leap 350% and its stock price treble this year.
Pop Mart makes Labubu dolls — troll-like, pointy-toothed, furry toys, which are the subject of a global obsession: Sales are up 5,000%, shops worldwide are running out, and Beijing has seized 46,000 fake Labubus in a black-market crackdown.
Pester-power-driven fads are nothing new: A 1996 craze for Tickle Me Elmo dolls led to people getting trampled in supermarkets. But contemporary ones are supercharged by social media, and in Labubu’s case by the use of “blind boxes,” meaning buyers don’t know which doll is inside when purchasing, a marketing tactic that is accused of encouraging gambling-like behavior.