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Ugly might be the new cute: Just look at Labubu, a “kind of ugly” plush toy that has sparked a buying frenzy across the world, especially in Asia, reported CNN. People from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur flocked to shopping malls on Friday to get the latest edition of the oh-so-collectible furry, while they quickly sold out online. Inspired by Nordic folklore, the toothy stuffed animal has high, pointy rabbit-like ears; big round eyes; and a mischievous grin with serrated teeth. Made by Chinese toymaker Pop Mart, Labubus come in so-called “blind boxes” the size of a hand, which keep the contents a mystery until the box is opened. Pop Mart, which sells collectibles, has sold Labubus as part of its The Monsters series for a few years, making a staggering 3 billion yuan (roughly $410 million in sales) last year alone, reported CNN. Meanwhile, in the U.S. on Friday, dozens of people lined up in the early morning hours in front of a Chicago Pop Mart store for the toy. By 6 a.m., a long line of fans snaked around the block. Labubu mania Celebrities from Rihanna to Lisa from Blackpink are fans of Labubu. The K-pop singer, who recently appeared in the television hit series White Lotus, recently proclaimed on Instagram: Labubu is my baby. On Wednesday, Lisa showed off her new pink-and-yellow tie-dye Labubu from the latest collection, which is big news because she is credited in part with the toys extreme popularity in Southeast Asia, per CNN. In 2015, according to Pop Mart’s website, illustrator Kasing Lung created a fairy tale world inspired by Nordic mythology, populating it with magical characters both good and evil, called “The Monsters.” The most prominent is Labubu, who is “kindhearted and always wants to help, but often accidentally achieves the opposite.” Lung was born in Hong Kong but grew up in the Netherlands, and he draws from both cultureswhich could explain Labubu’s cross-cultural global appeal.
Category:
E-Commerce
Independent bookstores have long been champions of community, curiosity, and cultureand on Saturday, April 26, they get their moment in the spotlight. Independent Bookstore Day, a nationwide celebration of indie bookstores, invites readers to shop locally and support the spaces that keep storytelling vibrant. But this year, the festivities come with a wrinkle: Amazon is holding a major book sale at the same time, and many booksellers and readers aren’t having it. Independent bookstores and users on BookTok are expressing their frustration with Amazon while encouraging readers to stay off of the online shopping site and instead make the trek to their local bookstore for the day. Some are even directly calling out Amazon and another large book retailer, Barnes & Noble, for having their sales so close to Independent Bookstore Day. So if you didnt knowand its okay if you didnt, because I feel like Amazon is working overtime to try and overshadow the whole daythis Saturday, April 26, is Independent Bookstore Day, TikTok user torithatnerd said in a video posted Thursday. Independent Bookstore Day began as California Bookstore Day in 2013, as a take on Record Store Day, according to Samantha Schoech in the Los Angeles Review of Books. Schoech wrote that it was a way for indie bookstores to band together and encourage a celebration of all things independent bookstores have to offer the public. Independent bookstores are not just storestheyre community centers and locals anchors, Schoech wrote. They are entire universes of ideas that contain the possibility of real serendipity. While the celebratory day started in California, sponsored by the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association, Schoech took the event nationwide in 2014. Soon after, the American Booksellers Association (ABA) began sponsoring the event, and this year a record-breaking number of stores are participating. Over 1,600 bookstores from all 50 states plan to celebrate on Saturday. Protecting books in a digital age Andy Hunter is CEO and founder of Bookshop.org, a website and business with a B Corp certification that works to acknowledge and encourage the convenience of online shopping for books while still supporting local bookshops. On the website, customers choose a bookstore theyd like to support when buying books, and the profits from orders are sent directly to the bookstore they selected. If customers opt not to choose a story, their purchases contribute to a profit-sharing pool that helps all associated bookshops affiliated with Bookshop.org. Every independent bookstore is kind of an advocate and activist for the importance of books and reading in our society, Hunter said. So we want books to survive. We dont want Amazons rise to be an extinction for local bookstores that are precious. In April 2024, the ABA filed a motion to intervene in the Federal Trade Commissions antitrust lawsuit against Amazon. The motion argues that Amazon has a monopoly power over books and can offer books at prices that independent bookstores find impossible to match. The motion, however, was eventually denied due to both the FTC and Amazons argument that ABAs claims were distinct from the FTCs allegations. For some BookTok-ers, though, the timing of Amazons sale feels intentional. Though Amazons books may be cheaper than an average independent bookstores prices, influencers are still encouraging their followers to avoid Amazon, or even go to their local library if independent bookstores are too far out of their price range. It feels like an intentional kick in the face to local bookstores, Hunter said regarding the Amazon sale. Independent bookstores generally have to charge full price because those margins are what help them survive. Amazon engages in predatory pricing. Amazon denied these allegations. A spokesperson said, The overlap was unintentional. The dates for our sale were set this year to accommodate additional participating countries. Whether intentional or not, Amazons sale dates seem to be callously ignoring the importance of Independent Bookstore Day, Hunter said. Books are really important, and theyre too important to society to entrust to a single retailer, whether or not that retailer has good intentions, he said. Independent bookstores are fighting to keep an independent marketplace for books and ideas alive, and Independent Bookstore Day is a day that everybody who supports that effort, who wants a diverse ecosystem around books, shows their support.
Category:
E-Commerce
Meta profits, kids pay the price, was the message delivered by dozens of grieving families at the doors of Meta’s Manhattan office on Thursday. Forty-five families traveled from across the U.S. and as far as the United Kingdom to hold a vigil outside the East Village headquarters of Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. Holding photos of their children, they spoke about lives lost to cyberbullying, sextortion scams, and suicide-glorifying contentcalling on Meta to take immediate action to protect children on its platforms. On a pile of rose bouquets, the families and demonstrators placed an open letter addressed to Mark Zuckerberg. Signed by more than 11,000 individuals and 18 safety organizations, the letter urges Meta to “end the algorithmic promotion of dangerous content to children under 18, including explicit and sexualizing content, racism and hate speech, content promoting disordered eating or self-harm, dangerous viral challenges, and content promoting drugs and alcohol.” The letter also calls for concrete steps to prevent nefarious actors including sexual predators, sextortionists, and drug dealers from finding, meeting, and grooming children and teens across all Meta platforms,” along with faster, more transparent responses to reports of harmful content or behavior. The vigil was organized by Heat Initiative, ParentsTogether Action, and Design It for Us. Among those in attendance was Tammy Rodriguez, a mother from Connecticut, whose 11-year-old daughter died by suicide after becoming addicted to Instagram and later being groomed by men on another platform. In an effort to understand her daughters experience, Rodriguez created a fake Instagram account as a 12-year-old. “Within weeks the whole algorithm changed, I would never have received that on my own, just suicide content, self-harm content,” Rodriguez said, per ABC 7. Mary Rodee, another mother who lost her 15-year-old son in 2021, shared that he was coerced into sending intimate photos by a sextortion scammer on Facebook. My kid is dead. I have nothing else to lose, Rodee said at the vigil, according to Bloomberg. Like so many other families, Ive been trying to meet with Mark Zuckerberg for years on this issue, but he refuses. Were all here to show that were willing to do whatever it takes. “We know parents are concerned about their teens’ having unsafe or inappropriate experiences online,” a Meta spokesperson told Fast Company. “It’s why we significantly changed the Instagram experience for teens with Teen Accounts, which were designed to address parents’ top concerns. Teen Accounts have built-in protections that limit who can contact teens and the content they see, and 94% of parents say these are helpful. We’ve also developed safety features to help prevent abuse, like warning teens when they’re chatting to someone in another country, and recently worked with Childhelp to launch a first-of-its kind online safety curriculum, helping middle schoolers recognize potential online harm and know where to go for help.”
Category:
E-Commerce
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