CON(SUMMER)ISM!
Written for RedBeat Magazine - Sep '25 Issue
Con(summer)ism [noun] [coined by Poojal Hurrychurn circa 2025]: the study of major consumerism trends over the summer.
Greetings humans, consumers and con(summer)s,
Gather around, grab your peers and your matchas - it is time for a debrief of the summer. This summer has been too hot to handle. Record-breaking temperatures, viral TikTok challenges, and labubus have been the talk of the season. Let’s dive into the biggest and hottest trends in the last few months.
Is it a Furby? Is it a Jellycat? No, it’s a Labubu.
Labubus look just as their name sounds: silly, cute (debatable), and creepy. These dolls are easily recognised by their round, fluffy bodies, rabbit-like ears, and pointed teeth adorning their cheeky smiles. The Labubu craze is pure consumerist insanity. There is not a single day that I don’t see a labubu attached to someone’s bag, not a single day that I go without its beady hollow eyes staring into my soul. It’s infiltrated my social media feeds - from unboxing videos to customised stick-on nail sets for the dolls. Yes, you read that right. Your 2-in-1 manicure package for you and your Labubu. An offer you can’t miss!
But these Labubus are more than just a trendy, ‘must-have’ item. Labubus were originally characters in a storybook called The Monsters. Kasing Lung, the creator of these characters, was inspired by the Nordic fairytales he heard during his childhood. Soon after the book’s release in 2015, Lung introduced a toy line inspired by the characters of The Monsters, but the dolls had their big break years later in 2019 when Pop Mart collaborated with Lung to launch the Labubus. Celebrities like Lisa from BLACKPINK and Rihanna were seen carrying Labubus attached to their bags, people were queuing up at stores to get their hands on a blind box, and Labubu unboxing videos were taking over social media feeds.
The dolls recently went full glam with their newest collaboration with Moynat. The Monsters-inspired collection stylises the luxury brand’s famous bags with the characters Labubu, Zimomo, and King Mon. Labubus have never been more à la mode. The massive popularity boom of these dolls has (predictably) led to a large surge of rip-offs or “lafufus” as some call them. Labubu had fans long before it blew up online. Going mainstream definitely made the dolls more popular, but ultimately, it has stripped them of their depth and personality.
Why do so many people rave about these tiny dolls in mystery blind boxes? Is it a genuine liking for their appearance and connection to the story behind them? Or is it the bandwagon effect? The secret remains untold.
Going nuts
Don’t go just yet, we’re just getting started. Everyone’s gone nuts about this next trend. You’ve definitely seen it and heard about it. You’ve probably had a bite of it and posted about it on Instagram. I have too! Haven’t guessed what it is yet?
It’s the world-famous Dubai Chocolate! FIX Dessert Chocolatier’s iconic “We Can’t Get Knafeh Of It” went viral for its unique blend of pistachio and knafeh. While the famous knafeh-flavoured chocolate remains home to the U.A.E, many vendors, bakeries, and companies around the world have made their own versions of it. Every possible combination you could think of has likely already been attempted, from doughnuts to cake to dupes. I’ve even seen Dubai chocolate Labubus on my feed!
It’s great to see so much love for something from Dubai, the place I’ve spent most of my life in. Dubai definitely knows how to craft unique and bold flavours. I’ve had online friends from around the world asking me if I’ve tried Dubai Chocolate or if I order it often - and even some who have asked me to bring it for them. While I personally do not like the flavour, I understand why a lot of people do. I’d love to try FIX’s other flavours, but I am not paying that much for a bite to satisfy my sweet tooth - unless I happen to magically pull out a golden ticket from a chocolate bar. For now, I think I’ll stick to my plain milk chocolate bar from the vending machine.
Vert à la mode
Staying green (and running out of green) seems to be à la mode. Matcha is a vibrant green powder made from ground green tea leaves. It has been a staple in Japan and China for centuries, traditionally whisked into hot water to brew a tea known for its strong flavour and multiple health benefits, including antioxidants and improving focus.
With roots stretching back to the 7th-century Tang dynasty in China, matcha was originally prized for its ability to aid meditation and deliver a host of health benefits. Today, nearly all of the biggest cafes and bakeries have their own line of matcha-flavoured beverages or food made with authentic matcha powder or over-sweetened matcha syrups. It’s the boba tea craze all over again, except it’s matcha.
I confess, I am quite matcha-obsessed, and I often indulge in my craving for it (my go-to order: iced matcha latte with oat milk, regular size, less ice, half sugar). However, even as a matcha enthusiast, I think we’ve gone a bit too far. We’ve taken something rich and authentic in flavour and history, and thrown it into a blender with every possible ingredient and combination we could come up with. I’ve seen everything from matcha lattes with different fruits, matcha croissants, and matcha tiramisu to matcha ramen. The sudden surge in matcha consumption and demand for it has resulted in supply shortages in Japan as matcha production struggles to keep up. To meet the demand, many vendors have even begun making lower-quality renditions of matcha.
How much can we consume something before it becomes too much? It seems like we’ll never learn.
Consume, Consume, Consume
There is no harm in the occasional matcha or bite of Dubai chocolate or purchasing a slightly creepy but cute doll because you want one. We all do it - but it’s the extremes of the trend that are truly questionable. Do you really need 5 Labubus? Or 50 different combinations of matcha-flavoured food - or do you just have a fear of missing out?
The social media frenzy, queuing up to grab the last product, sharing Labubu blind box opening videos, and Dubai chocolate mukbangs; it’s a cycle that never ends. We are being brainwashed by these trends, which push us to buy for the sake of buying, just because everyone else is. It all starts with one video, one like, one comment that goes viral. Then, suddenly, it’s all over our feeds. It’s a cycle with no end. We consume what we like, and the algorithm feeds us more of it. Big corporations and companies dig into these trends and push out products we see on our feeds. Then, once we get tired of seeing the product, they add something new to it to drag us down the rabbit hole again. Tired of the traditional matcha latte? Here’s matcha latte with espresso foam. Want something sweeter? Something to eat? Here’s a strawberry matcha croissant. Here’s the limited edition Labubu blindbox (rumour has it, one of them has a 24K golden Labubu).
Why do we continue to attach ourselves to these trends? Unknowingly - or knowingly- we engage in these trends as an act of escapism. We are sitting here, mindlessly scrolling on our feeds, adding our favourite items to the cart for the umpteenth time, liking Dubai chocolate reviews and unboxings of Labubus, or watching the 10th part of a 20-part gossip series. Our feeds are infested with it, and we are being infected by it. Meanwhile, valuable stories and media, or news of wars, genocides, climate change and other issues are being drowned out by all of this. It is washing out the content we need to see, the products we should be investing in: content that has value, products we actually need.
We have fallen into an echo chamber of consumerism, a cycle of continuous content production and consumption, and we need to snap out of it.
So, do we stop buying what we want? Stop eating fancy chocolates and green coloured drinks? Stop scrolling on our feeds? Only interact with what we need to see? No. Content consumption and consumerism are inevitable; it’s how the world works. It’s an exchange system, a continuous cycle. We are being subjected to an overwhelming wave of content and trends, which we naturally continue to engage with. Whether it’s creators posting for viewers to like and comment, or the all-new limited-edition packaging of a toy for collectors.
It’s an act of balance and moderation. We need to become more conscious of what we consume and aware of what consequences it may have. What matters most is being intentional. Try the latest combination of matcha or pistachio and knafeh flavoured chocolate if you like. But take the time to invest in things that hold value like knowledge, the news, meaningful experiences and products that genuinely serve a purpose, rather than buying for the sake of appearance or online validation. Next time you decide to hop onto the bandwagon and grab onto the next trend, take a moment to consider if it’s really worth it.
As the saying goes, we are what we eat. What we consume and how we consume are ultimately in our control. Take a step back and really think about the kind of content and products you consume. Then, ask yourself, who do you wish to be?
A mindful consumer or a compulsive, trend-driven one?
