Adorable or just weird? How Labubu dolls conquered the world

2 hours ago Share Save Fan Wang BBC News Reporting from Singapore Adam Hancock Business reporter, BBC News Reporting from Singapore Share Save

Xia Yu/VCG via Getty Images

Whether you reckon they are cute, ugly or just plain weird, chances are you have heard of the furry dolls that have become a global sensation - Labubu. Born a monster, the elf-like creature from Chinese toy maker Pop Mart is now a viral purchase. And it has no dearth of celebrity advocates: Rihanna, Dua Lipa, Kim Kardashian and Blackpink's Lisa. Ordinary folk are just as obsessed - from Shanghai to London, the long queues to snap up the doll have made headlines, sometimes descending into fights even. "You get such a sense of achievement when you are able to get it among such fierce competition," says avowed fan Fiona Zhang. The world's fascination with Labubu has almost tripled Pop Mart's profits in the past year - and, according to some, even energised Chinese soft power, which has been bruised by the pandemic and a strained relationship with the West. So, how did we get here?

What exactly is Labubu?

It's a question that still bothers many - and even those who know the answer are not entirely sure they can explain the craze. Labubu is both a fictional character and a brand. The word itself doesn't mean anything. It's the name of a character in "The Monsters" toy series created by Hong Kong-born artist Kasing Lung. The vinyl faces are attached to plush bodies, and come with a signature look - pointy ears, big eyes and a mischievous grin showing exactly nine teeth. A curious yet divided internet can't seem to decide if they are adorable or bizarre.

He Xiaoxiao/VCG via Getty Images The Labubu universe includes other characters that have inpired their own dolls

According to its retailer's official website, Labubu is "kind-hearted and always wants to help, but often accidentally achieves the opposite". The Labubu dolls have appeared in several series of "The Monsters", such as "Big into Energy", "Have a Seat", "Exciting Macaron" and "Fall in Wild". The Labubu brand also has other characters from its universe, which have inspired their own popular dolls - such as the tribe's leader Zimomo, her boyfriend Tycoco and her friend Mokoko. To the untrained eye, some of these dolls are hard to distinguish from one another. The connoisseurs would know but Labubu's fame has certainly rubbed off, with other specimens in the family also flying off the shelves.

Who sells Labubu?

Pop Mart had been selling so-called blind boxes - where customers only found out what they had bought when they opened the package - for some years when they tied up with Kasing Lung for the rights to Labubu. That was 2019, nearly a decade after entrepreneur Wang Ning opened Pop Mart as a variety store, similar to a pound shop, in Beijing. When the blind boxes became a success, Pop Mart launched the first series in 2016, selling Molly dolls - child-like figurines created by Hong Kong artist Kenny Wong.

Getty Images Pop Mart first opened as a variety store in Beijing in 2010

But it was the Labubu sales that fuelled Pop Mart's growth and in December 2020, it began selling shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Those shares have soared by more than 500% in the last year. Pop Mart itself has now become a major retailer. It operates more than 2,000 vending machines, or "roboshops", around the world. And you can now buy Labubu dolls in stores, physical or virtual, in more than 30 countries, from the US and UK to Australia and Singapore, although many of them have recently paused sales due to overwhelming demand. Sales from outside mainland China contributed to nearly 40% of its total revenue in 2024. The demand did not rise overnight though. It actually took a few years for the elfin monsters to break into the mainstream.

How did Labubu go global?

Before the world discovered Labubu, their fame was limited to China. They started to become a hit just as the country emerged from the pandemic in late 2022, according to Ashley Dudarenok, founder of China-focused research firm ChoZan. "Post-pandemic, a lot of people in China felt that they wanted to emotionally escape… and Labubu was a very charming but chaotic character," she says. "It embodied that anti-perfectionism." The Chinese internet, which is huge and competitive, produces plenty of viral trends that don't go global. But this one did and its popularity quickly spread to neighbouring South East Asia. Fiona, who lives in Canada, says she first heard about Labubu from Filipino friends in 2023. That's when she started buying them - she says she finds them cute, but their increasing popularity is a major draw: "The more popular it gets the more I want it. "My husband doesn't understand why me, someone in their 30s, would be so fixated on something like this, like caring about which colour to get."

Getty Images Labubu pendants are the most coveted

It helps that it's also affordable, she adds. Although surging demand has pushed up prices on the second-hand market, Fiona says the original price, which ranged from C$25 ($18; £14) to C$70 for most Labubu dolls, was "acceptable" to most people she knows. "That's pretty much how much a bag accessory would cost anyway these days, most people would be able to afford it," she says. Lababu's popularity soared in April 2024, when Thai-born K-pop superstar Lisa began posting photos on Instagram with various Labubu dolls. And then, other global celebrities turned the dolls into an international phenomenon this year. Singer Rihanna was photographed with a Labubu toy clipped to her Louis Vuitton bag in February. Influencer Kim Kardashian shared her collection of 10 Labubu dolls with her Instagram following in April. And in May, former England football captain Sir David Beckham also took to Instagram with a photo of a Labubu, given to him by his daughter. Now the dolls feel ubiquitous, regularly spotted not just online but also on friends, colleagues or passersby.

What's behind the Labubu obsession?

Put simply, we don't know. Like most viral trends, Labubu's appeal is hard to explain - the result of timing, taste and the randomness that is the internet. Beijing is certainly happy with the outcome. State news agency Xinhua says Labubu "shows the appeal of Chinese creativity, quality and culture in a language the world can understand", while giving everyone the chance to see "cool China". Xinhua has other examples that show "Chinese cultural IP is going global": the video game Black Myth: Wukong and the hit animated film Nezha.

Getty Images A Pop Mart store in Shanghai

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The Indian who called out a massacre - and shamed the British Empire

4 hours ago Share Save Meryl Sebastian BBC News, Kochi Share Save

Alamy Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair was one of the few Indians to hold high government positions during British rule

Long before India gained independence, one defiant voice inside the British Empire dared to call out a colonial massacre - and paid a price for it. Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair, a lawyer, was one of the few Indians to be appointed to top government posts when the British ruled the country. In 1919, he resigned from the Viceroy's Council after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in the northern Indian city of Amritsar in Punjab, in which hundreds of civilians attending a public meeting were shot dead by British troops. On the 100th anniversary of the massacre, then UK Prime Minister Theresa May described the tragedy as a "shameful scar" on Britain's history in India. Nair's criticism of Punjab's then Lieutenant Governor, Michael O'Dwyer, led to a libel case against him, which helped spotlight the massacre and the actions of British officials. In a biography of Nair, KPS Menon, independent India's first foreign secretary, described him as "a very controversial figure of his time". Nair was known for his independent views and distaste for extremist politics, and spoke critically of colonial rule and even of Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian independence hero who is now regarded as the father of the nation. Menon, who married Nair's daughter Saraswathy, wrote: "Only [Nair] could have insulted the all powerful British Viceroy on his face and opposed Mahatma Gandhi openly." Nair was not a familiar name in India in recent decades, but earlier this year, a Bollywood film based on the court case, Kesari Chapter 2- starring superstar Akshay Kumar - helped bring attention to his life.

Getty Images Bollywood star Akshay Kumar played Nair in the recent film Kesari Chapter 2

Nair was born in 1857 into a wealthy family in what is now Palakkad district in Kerala state. He studied at the Presidency College in Madras, acquiring a bachelor's degree before studying law and beginning his career as an apprentice with a Madras High Court judge. In 1887, he joined the social reform movement in the Madras presidency. Throughout his career, he fought to reform Hindu laws of the time on marriage and women's rights and to abolish the caste system. For some years, he was a delegate to the Indian National Congress and presided over its 1897 session in Amraoti (Amravati). In his address, he held the British-run government "morally responsible for the extreme poverty of the masses", saying the annual famines "claimed more victims and created more distress than under any civilised government anywhere else in the world". He was appointed public prosecutor in 1899 and writes in his autobiography about advising the government on seditious articles in newspapers, including those by his close friend G Subramania Iyer, the first editor of The Hindu newspaper. "On many occasions… I was able to persuade them not to take any step against him." He became a high court judge in 1908 and was knighted four years later. Nair moved to Delhi in 1915 when he was appointed a member of the Viceroy's Council, only the third Indian to hold the position. He was a fierce proponent of India's right to govern itself and pushed for constitutional reforms during his time on the council. Through 1918 and 1919, his dissent and negotiations with Edwin Montagu, then secretary of state for India, helped expand provisions of the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms which laid out how India would gradually achieve self-governance. Montagu wrote in his diary that he had been warned "that it was absolutely necessary to get him on my side, for Sankaran Nair wielded more influence than any other Indian".

Getty Images In 2013, then UK Prime Minister David Cameron visited the Jallianwala Bagh memorial and paid tribute to the victims

A pivotal moment in Nair's career as a statesman was the massacre in Jallianwala Bagh, when hundreds of unarmed Indians were shot dead in a public garden on the day of the Baisakhi festival. Official estimates said nearly 400 people were killed and more than 1,500 wounded by the soldiers, who fired under the orders of Brigadier General REH Dyer. Indian sources put the death toll closer to 1,000. Nair writes in his 1922 book Gandhi and Anarchy about following the events in Punjab with increasing concern. The shooting at Jallianwala Bagh was part of a larger crackdown in the province, where martial law had been introduced - the region was cut off from the rest of the country and no newspapers were allowed into it. "If to govern the country, it is necessary that innocent persons should be slaughtered at Jallianwala Bagh and that any Civilian Officer may, at any time, call in the military and the two together may butcher the people as at Jallianwala Bagh, the country is not worth living in," he wrote. A month later, he resigned from the council and left for Britain, where he hoped to rouse public opinion on the massacre. In his memoir, Nair writes of speaking to the editor of The Westminster Gazette which soon published an article called the Amritsar Massacre. Other papers including The Times also followed suit. "Worse things had happened under British rule, but I am glad I was able to obtain publicity for this one at least," Nair wrote.

Getty Images Brigadier General REH Dyer ordered his troops to fire on unarmed civilians

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How Belarus dissidents in exile abroad are pursued and threatened

2 hours ago Share Save Andrey Kozenko BBC News Russian Share Save

BBC Anna Krasulina (L) and Tatsiana Ashurkevich are among the dissidents who have been targeted abroad

Dissidents who have fled Alexander Lukashenko's rule in Belarus have spoken of threats being made against them and their relatives at home. Hundreds of thousands of Belarusians are estimated to have left their country since the brutal crackdown on widespread opposition protests in 2020, after Lukashenko, 70, claimed victory in presidential elections that were widely condemned as rigged. Among the exiles was journalist Tatsiana Ashurkevich, 26, who continued to write about events in Belarus. Then, earlier this year, she discovered that the door of her flat in the capital, Minsk, had been sealed up with construction foam. She guessed immediately who might be to blame. She decided to confront one of her followers on Instagram who had repeatedly messaged her with unsolicited compliments and views about the Belarusian opposition movement and journalism in exile. "If there are criminal cases [against me], just say so," she said. "I have nothing to do with that apartment - other people live there. Why are you doing this?"

Tatsiana Ashurkevich's front door at home in Belarus was sealed shut with builders' foam

The man immediately changed his tone to a more official one, saying criminal cases were not his responsibility, but he could ask the relevant department. Then he made a request: could she, in exchange for help, share information about Belarusians fighting for Ukraine, especially since she had written about them before? Ashurkevich blocked him. In Belarus itself, tens of thousands of people have been arrested in the past five years for political reasons, according to human rights group Viasna. But hundreds of critics of Lukashenko's 31-year rule have also faced persecution abroad. Lukashenko and Belarusian state media often accuse opposition activists of "betraying" the country and plotting a coup with assistance from the West. Authorities have justified targeting activists abroad, arguing they are trying to harm national security and overthrow the government. Several people the BBC has spoken to have received messages and phone calls, sometimes seemingly innocuous, sometimes with thinly veiled threats - or promises with a catch. Anna Krasulina, 55, receives them so often she has become used to putting her phone in flight mode before going to bed. "I can see who's handling me - it's a couple of people. Or maybe it's the same one using different accounts," she says. She's convinced the authorities are behind this. Ms Krasulina works as a press secretary for Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, an opposition leader believed by many to have won the 2020 election, now living in exile. Both women have been sentenced in Belarus to 11 and 15 years respectively in trials held in absentia. Charges included preparing a coup and running an extremist organisation.

Getty Images Many opposition activists have been deterred from staging protests abroad because of the risk to their families

Since such trials against exiled political opponents were made possible by a decree by Lukashenko in 2022, more than 200 cases have been opened, according to Viasna, with last year seeing a record number. This allows authorities to raid the homes of the accused and harass their relatives. Critics are being identified on photographs and videos made in opposition gatherings abroad. Many have now stopped taking part in them, fearing for their loved ones who remain in Belarus, says Ms Krasulina. My opponents choose jail and exile, claims Lukashenko

Belarus ruler claims landslide in "sham election" Several people the BBC spoke to report their relatives being visited by the authorities. "It's terrifying when you can't help them. You can't go back. You can't support them," says one. None would go on record or even reveal any details anonymously out of concern that their families could be hurt. Their fears are not unfounded. Artem Lebedko, a 39-year old who worked in real estate, is serving a three-and-a-half year jail sentence for "financing extremism". He had never spoken out in public, but his father was an opposition politician living in exile. Breaking the ties between Belarusians who have fled and those who stayed behind is a deliberate strategy by Lukashenko's government, says journalist and analyst Hanna Liubakova, also sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison. "Even if someone in Belarus understands everything, they'll think three times before talking to a 'terrorist'," she says, referring to a list of "extremists and terrorists" which the authorities populate with names of their critics.

Andrei Strizhak Andrei Strizhak compares the methods used by Belarus authorities to the old Soviet KGB

Embattled Sánchez resists clamour for resignation

3 hours ago Share Save Guy Hedgecoe BBC News Reporting from Madrid Share Save

EPA Pedro Sánchez, who promised to clean up Spanish politics, is now caught up in multiple corruption scandals

Seven years after taking office by ousting corruption-ridden conservatives from government, Pedro Sánchez is fighting for his political life amid investigations into alleged graft in his Socialist party (PSOE). On June 12, an ashen-faced prime minister apologised to Spaniards after audio gathered by civil guard investigators was made public and appeared to show the PSOE secretary, Santos Cerdán, discussing commissions paid by companies in exchange for public contracts. Sánchez has not himself been directly implicated, but the Socialist leader who came to power promising to clean up politics is now facing calls to resign from an invigorated opposition. Cerdán, who was party number three, has resigned from the PSOE and stepped down as a member of parliament. He is due to appear before the Supreme Court on 25 June. He maintains he has never committed a crime nor been implicit in one.

EPA PSOE secretary Santos Cerdán has resigned and is due to appear in front of the Supreme Court on 25 June

The investigation into commissions is part of an ongoing probe which has already implicated José Luis Ábalos, a former PSOE secretary and transport minister. A third person implicated is Koldo García, an advisor to Ábalos. Both men featured with Cerdán in the recently exposed audio. All three say they have done nothing wrong. The investigation into Ábalos, which began last year, was damaging for the government but his exit from the cabinet and the PSOE secretary post in 2021 put distance between him and Sánchez. However, the implication of Cerdán is more problematic. Sánchez had repeatedly defended him in the face of claims in the right-wing media over recent months that he was under investigation, and the prime minister even accused the opposition of "slandering honest people" when asked about Cerdán's activities last month. The party secretary, from the northern region of Navarre, was a trusted confidant of the prime minister, playing a crucial role, for example, in negotiating the support of Catalan nationalists to allow the formation of a new government in 2023. Despite acknowledging that he "should not have trusted" Cerdán, Sánchez has insisted that he will see out the legislature, which is due to end in 2027. In a letter to PSOE members he apologised again, while doubling down. "There are many issues that affect the lives of the majority – healthcare, housing, pensions, jobs, fighting climate change and defending equality – and for which it is worth fighting still," he wrote. "Challenges that are not solved with headlines or lynchings." However, the opposition has presented the investigation as symptomatic of a corrupt regime, pointing to other probes affecting Sánchez and his circle. A judge has been investigating the prime minister's wife, Begoña Gómez, for possible business irregularities - and his musician brother, David, is due to go on trial for alleged influence peddling in taking up a public post in the south-western city of Badajoz. Meanwhile, the Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz, is also likely to face trial for revealing confidential details of a tax evader. All three deny wrongdoing.

Reuters Sánchez's wife, Begoña Gómez, is being investigated by a judge for business irregularities - while his brother is due to go on trial this year