Labubu Dolls, Gen-Z and Overconsumption

Editorial from AMP Youth Leaders Mariane, Julia and Saadalah

In the TikTok generation, a lot of what we do is connected to trends and popular habits we see online. Recently, the newest fever is the Labubu keychain and the Bobbie Goods coloring book. Millions of people around the globe started to go crazy to possess these things that look like simple objects, but that actually represent the human necessity to fit somewhere. But what is that saying about our society and how we see these viral trends?

First, we need to take a look at the bigger picture of consumerism and the capitalist system itself. Since the Industrial Revolution, products have been made to make you consume more, buy more, have more. The programmed obsolescence has turned shopping into urgency, a never-ending necessity. When a certain thing reaches its expiration date, we all become obsessed with getting the newest version possible (look at the iPhone, if you need an example). All that movement was amplified by social media, where the oversharing and the idealization of material things created a belief within us that tells us we’ll only be happy once we get that one specific thing. Spoiler: once you get it, you’ll just move on to the next one. Karl Marx had already talked about it when he discussed the commodity fetish, arguing that we give inherent value to a material product, overrating its real meaning in our lives. 

Besides, in the Bobbie Goods trend, this effect becomes explicit in the way people have been associating the coloring book with mental health habits, underrating the value of appropriate self-care. Some people actually started to believe that painting bears is going to solve all of your problems and take your anxiety out of the picture, but that’s not exactly how it goes. As youth, we need to be aware of this kind of mass-effect in our behavior, thoughts and feelings, so we don’t end up giving away our own peace of mind just trying to fit in the standards built to sustain consumerist habits.

On the other hand, teenagers constantly live with the necessity of belonging to certain groups, but a lot of times that comes with a lot of pressure into doing things or having things (and maybe that’s not even that important for you). The massive adhesion of something creates a feeling of unbelonging, unless you have what everyone has, do what everyone does, go where everyone goes. These feelings have the power to shift one’s personality completely and make youth lose its own identity and authenticity – especially for us, “Gen Zers”, that are very much completely influenced by social media behavior.

So, if after all this you’re wondering  if it’s wrong to want a Labubu hanging in your backpack or a famous coloring book to distract you after a long day, you’re not (trust us, these writers themselves have dreamed with colorful pages too). But we are young people, and our job in this world is to prepare it for the future. And the only way we can do that is if we know what our identities are, what we aim for in the future and don’t lose our critical thinking. 

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