China wants you to buy Labubu dolls, not Lafufus

Washington Post

21 hours ago

They're the 'ugly-cute' ambassadors in China's fluffiest soft power push: The Labubu, the pastel-colored, always grinning, fuzzy gremlins with bunny ears that have become the latest fashion must-have.
Rihanna was spotted with one clipped to her Louis Vuitton purse. K-pop star Lisa from Blackpink raved about her 'obsession' with them. And stars from the 'Real Housewives' franchise recently coached podcast listeners on how to get them — and how to avoid buying a fake.
It's not just the Real Housewives who are worried about dupes. Now China, criticized for years for intellectual property thefts as its factories turned out fake Chanel handbags and pirated Nike sneakers, has drawn a line when it comes to the burgeoning counterfeit Labubu market.
Earlier this month, China's CCTV reported that fake Labubus — widely known as 'Lafufus' — were being seized by the country's customs agency. It did not share cumulative totals, but customs offices in several parts of China announced the seizure of nearly 49,000 suspected Lafufus in recent weeks.
Plastic bags stuffed with fake dolls filled almost an entire corridor at a customs inspection site during a Lafufu sting at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge last month. Law enforcement officers have also been conducting patrols for Lafufus at some markets in the southeastern city of Shenzhen, local media reported, citing a journalist who went undercover to the storefronts.
A further 200,000 fake Labubu goods — including plastic stamps, keychain pendants, plastic zipper bags, rubber floor mats and plastic building blocks — were seized in Ningbo in April.
Still, video footage shared on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, shows large sacks of Lafufus being sold on Chinese city streets. They've found their way into the boutiques of Taipei and Seoul's youth shopping districts. And on YouTube and other social media, some users garner thousands of views showing off their Lafufu hauls.
Labubus have become a cult sensation.
People join long lines and even camp overnight at Pop Mart stores to buy the creatures, with some fans likening the rush to secure a toy to war or 'The Hunger Games' series. In London, Pop Mart stopped carrying the dolls in May after brawls broke out. Part of the appeal: Many Labubus are sold in blind boxes, meaning that consumers aren't sure which style of the doll they'll get.
Pop Mart, a Chinese company that now has stores around the world, sold about $418 million worth of Labubus last year, its founder said this month, with the company's overseas revenue surging 375 percent year-on-year.
Beijing, better known in recent years for using the hard tools of economic and military coercion, has seized upon Labubus in its effort to make China more culturally alluring. It has hailed the popularity of the animated movie 'Ne Zha 2' and the video game 'Black Myth: Wukong,' and is now touting Labubu as a national success story.
The 'aesthetics, design and emotional resonance' of products like Labubus were helping the country develop from being known for 'Made-in-China' to 'Chinese brands,' foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said earlier this month.
For that reason, Chinese authorities are cracking down on knockoffs.
He Guojun, an economics professor at the University of Hong Kong, said that 'cracking down isn't just about Popmart,' but more 'about protecting Chinese soft power.'
'It's about proving China's IP system can protect the next Labubu,' he said, in an email. 'China should intensify its crackdown … not just to protect a single brand, but to safeguard its broader ambitions as a global innovator in the creative economy.'
Pop Mart recently filed an application to trademark the word 'Lafufu,' according to Chinese state media, in an apparent effort to push out its illegitimate competitors. The country's official broadcaster also issued guidelines for how to distinguish the real doll from a fake, taking note of Labubu's nine little, sharp teeth. Lafufus often have fewer.
Pop Mart said it does not have data to share on the scale of the counterfeit market. But it said in an email that the company is 'committed to protecting its artists, customers, and intellectual property rights globally.'
Dupes, however prized by consumers, often pose a threat to brands far greater than sales lost to the counterfeit alternatives. Some analysts say that an oversaturation of Lafufus essentially risks making the real thing uncool.
'When consumers can't tell the difference between genuine and fake products, their experience worsens,' said Zhang Yi, CEO of the iiMedia Research Group, a market research firm based in Guangzhou. 'They may shift to newer alternatives, ultimately accelerating the decline of the original product.'
But it's often the quest for a bona fide Labubu that appeals to consumers, according to Su Long, a visual art and cultural studies researcher at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, who recently studied the toy craze as a social phenomenon.
'The hunt for these collectibles fosters a sense of community and shared experience, with fans bonding over the process,' Su said. 'In my research, I've found that the emotional investment and labor consumers put into acquiring these items — the waiting, the sharing of information, the joy of the unboxing — is what truly imbues them with value.'
Su said he first became fascinated by the craze when he saw people returning to its Kuala Lumpur store day after day, exchanging whispers about inventory and the risk of highly sought-after collections selling out.
He soon found himself regretting not purchasing one when he had the chance, he said.
'I vividly remember leaving the store only to hear shortly after that they had restocked Labubu V3,' Su said. 'It felt like a shot that had hit the rim and bounced out — a truly memorable feeling of being so close yet missing the opportunity.'
He now owns eight Labubus.
The doll has become a status symbol for many, with a 'life-size' Labubu selling for more than $150,000 at a Beijing auction last month. Inside PopMart stores, the figurines range from under $20 to nearly $960, depending on their size, but scalpers are quick to buy them out.
Su said he has seen scalpers hang outside of Pop Mart stores, offering to buy Labubus from customers who excitedly unbox rare versions of the doll in the street.
'Possessing popular Labubu figures, especially rare ones, signifies that one is 'in the know,' fashionable, and a dedicated member of a specific subculture,' he said. 'It's a tangible form of cultural capital.'