Monster of Bad Luck: Labubu toys to be tested for safety and quality

Roskachestvo plans to test Labuba toys for safety and quality, Izvestia has learned. The most expensive of them in April-May in Russia cost 59 thousand rubles, the fiscal data operator OFD Platform told the editorial board. Half of all Labubu sales are in the capital, where the average receipt for a toy is just over 8 thousand rubles. In the regions, it is lower — almost 7 thousand. The previous time, another fashionable toy, Huggy Waggy, turned out to be dangerous for children.

Why the Lab needs to be checked

Roskachestvo is launching a study of Labuba toys, which have unexpectedly become a hit in recent weeks, the organization told Izvestia. Currently, its experts have begun to study the Russian market and select samples: goods will be purchased at retail, including on marketplaces. Roskachestvo said that on the Web the Lab is called sharp—toothed cute monsters - these are toys of different colors and models, and judging by the search results, it is the keyring toys that are particularly popular there.

Despite her ambiguous or contradictory appearance, Labubu is a cheerful elf girl who loves adventures, Roskachestvo emphasized. And although she is considered a monster, in reality the character is not declared to be evil, they explained.

The organization's research will be aimed at studying the documents that must necessarily accompany the products, such as certificates of state registration, documents on participation in the Honest Mark labeling system. Sellers will also have to provide Roskachestvo with the results of laboratory tests according to safety and quality criteria. Experts also plan to study the reliability of hinges and other toy elements.

— Prices for these toys vary critically depending on the place of purchase, the seller and the manufacturer. An original toy can cost about 10 thousand rubles or more, whereas on marketplaces you can find analogues for 500 rubles, 1 thousand and 3 thousand. But so far we do not have an answer to the main question: do these products, mainly analogues and replicas, meet the safety requirements," Roskachestvo said.

Based on past experience, the organization said that Lab Coats can be sold not as children's toys, but as souvenirs. This circumvention maneuver allows the goods to escape from the mandatory requirements of the technical regulations on toy safety. Consequently, Roskachestvo emphasized, the safety requirements necessary for the category of "child's play", including product toxicity, will not be applied to them.

This was the case, for example, with another popular product, the Huggy Waggy doll. Despite the fact that it is essentially a toy, its manufacturers and sellers positioned the product as a souvenir. Checks on the quality of the doll, which was fashionable at the time, showed that it could be unsafe for children and of poor quality.

Izvestia sent a request to Rospotrebnadzor. The Federal Customs Service could not specify the volume of products supplied to the Russian Federation, as they do not keep statistics on individual products in the category.

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The new popular toy is a product designed for children under the age of 14 to play with, so it must meet all the requirements of the technical regulations on Toy Safety, Oleg Pavlov, head of the Public Consumer Initiative, told Izvestia. We are talking about hygienic safety, organoleptic, sanitary-chemical, toxicological-hygienic and microbiological indicators are important here. Confirmation of the fact that the toy meets all the requirements is the presence of a mandatory certificate about it.

— Meanwhile, given the rapid growth of the character's popularity among various age groups and the saturation of the market with all kinds of replicas and fakes, attempts by unscrupulous entrepreneurs to import and sell these goods under the guise of souvenirs are quite likely. That is, products that are designed to meet the aesthetic needs of a person and are not intended for a child's play," the expert said.

The positioning of these items as original, rare, and expensive contributes to this perception. Since souvenirs are not subject to mandatory safety requirements, trafficking in counterfeit Labubou can pose a threat to harm the health and well-being of consumers, he added.

Muscovites are ready to spend more on Labuba monsters than other Russians, the fiscal data operator of the OFD Platform told Izvestia. The capital accounts for exactly half of toy sales in the country. The average receipt for its purchase in the metropolis now stands at 8.1 thousand rubles, the number of purchases from May 1 to May 20 is 20 times higher than the same level in April. At the same time, the average receipt in May decreased by 22% compared to the April level — in April, an average of 10.3 thousand rubles were spent on a toy. At the same time, the figure for the Russian Federation is generally lower: almost 6.6 thousand rubles per figure, minus 30% per month. The top purchases include beige, pink and blue animals.

— The maximum receipt for a toy was recorded in Moscow in May — 59 thousand rubles per monster, which indicates a high level of customer engagement and a shortage of original products. There is no certainty yet that the fashion trend will last a long time. The rapid decrease in the average receipt for a keychain toy already indicates a large volume of product copying and an increase in a cheaper assortment," a representative of the Check Index analytical center, a fiscal data operator, told Izvestia.

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Marketplace data confirms that the demand for Lububa is still growing: sales of these toys on Yandex.Market increased fivefold in May compared to April, the company said. During the three weeks of May, sales of such dolls on Ozon increased 6.5 times compared to the same period in April, which was the peak period, the company noted. At the same time, demand began to grow in March, with a 1.7—fold increase by February. Ozon sellers reacted quickly to the new trend — the brand's doll range on the online platform grew by 300% in May to April.

It is absolutely necessary to check new toys on the market for safety and quality, agrees Yulia Zagitova, founder of the Breaking Trends communication agency. After all, children interact with toys, products can touch their skin, get into their mouths, and cause emotional reactions, so it is important to be sure that the materials are non-toxic, the structures are safe, and the content is age—appropriate. Moreover, the story of Haggie Wagga showed that even the popularity of the product does not guarantee its safety, so checking in these conditions is a basic measure to protect children, the expert emphasized.

— Like most fashionable toys, the Laboo has been "shot" through social media. The appearance of the toy, its cute and at the same time hooligan character, visual recognition — all this made it viral. The audience of teenagers and young adults quickly picked up the trend, and a wave of short videos began on various resources. The shortage of products has also had a positive effect — limited shipments and high prices create an aura of exclusivity," the expert noted. — Labubu is likely to remain popular over the next few months — until the end of 2025, especially in cities with millions.

But, like any trending toy, it is subject to a rapid change of interests, when peak popularity disappears, sales decrease sharply. If the manufacturer does not offer new formats or collaborations, the cycle may end by the beginning of next year, Yulia Zagitova summarized.