In March 2018, a new member of the Duffy family, StellaLou, arrived at Shanghai Disney Resort. How popular is this bunny? Shanghai Disney Resort once stated that StellaLou is the fastest-growing IP in popularity at Disney Parks. If we were to stack all the StellaLou-themed merchandise sold since 2018 up to now, its total height would be equivalent to that of 119 Mount Everests .
On September 29 this year, LinaBell, a little fox from the same family as StellaLou, officially made her debut at Shanghai Disney Park. Within a mere week after the release of the promotional video, several topics such as "LinaBell Parade Debut," "Who Could Resist the Adorable LinaBell," and "LinaBell Gets Petted by Shanghai Visitors" climbed onto the hot search list.
Without the foundation of traditional Disney animation, StellaLou and LinaBell have easily emptied the wallets of young people simply by relying on their own image, along with the push from social media traffic. As a data technology company, Moojing would like to discuss with everyone today the journey to fame of these two "Chuansha Female Stars."
On August 6 this year, "Jade Rabbit" StellaLou, dressed in a national style costume as Yang Guifei swinging during the Ghost Festival, launched online. Disney’s intention for this exclusively Chinese market is very clear. Prices for "Jade Rabbit" StellaLou surged as the Mid-Autumn Festival approached: The original price of 359 yuan for the Mid-Autumn-themed limited-edition StellaLou sold out within two days of its release, and Disney officially announced there would be no restock. Soon after, the bunny was flipped on second-hand trading platforms for over a thousand yuan, more than 3 times the original price, with some sellers asking for a "sky-high price" of 2599 yuan.
Since the launch of "Jade Rabbit" StellaLou on August 6, daily discussions about StellaLou have remained above 20k posts, bringing in more than 200k articles and videos within 7 days. As of October 15, the Weibo topic #StellaLou# has received 490 million views, with 1.346 million discussions. On Xiaohongshu, there are over 160,000 notes related to StellaLou.
"Money-Grabbing Female Star" could pretty much summarize this bunny's current status at Disney, saying she's one of Disney's hottest, most profitable, and most popular IPs is not an exaggeration. Consumers are still willing to accept prices like 128 yuan for a headband and 60 yuan for a Mickey Mouse ice cream, after all, "since we're here already."
Nowadays, on Taobao, "knockoff StellaLous" and a wide range of soft peripherals such as jewelry, pendants, pillows, and bracelets are everywhere. Soft peripherals not only have large sales volumes and high profits but also have low manufacturing costs, especially plush toys. It can be seen that the sales revenues of StellaLou-related goods in categories such as luggage leather goods, apparel accessories, and jewelry remain high , and the sales of StellaLou-related clothing in the women's clothing category are not optimistic, but there has been a rebound in August and September this year. Some businesses have already started to try creating StellaLou co-branded products in women's goods such as perfumes and beauty products, which may be a new development opportunity in the future.
On September 29 this year, the little fox LinaBell officially made her debut at Shanghai Disney Park. On that day, Shanghai Disney held a special welcome ceremony for LinaBell, inviting popular characters like the Duffy family, Mickey, and Minnie to support her. Many Disney fans even queued for five hours just to catch a glimpse of LinaBell. Due to her debut in Chuansha Town where Shanghai Disney is located, LinaBell was also referred to as "Chuansha Daji."
On October 12, topics such as #StellaLou# and #LinaBell# and other related entries climbed onto the Weibo hot search list. With both top IP figures trending, netizens jokingly referred to this as the "Disney Female Stars Battle." As of October 15, the Weibo topic #LinaBell# has achieved 240 million reads, with 758,000 discussions.
On Xiaohongshu, there is also a large number of notes mainly featuring guides. A search for "LinaBell" as a keyword yields over 10,000+ notes and more than 100 related products, with Bilibili UP masters and Douyin KOLs also having various unboxing videos.
In this frenetic atmosphere, prices of LinaBell-related merchandise on various trading platforms have been inflated several times. Even though the prices have been hiked beyond reasonable limits, many netizens are still looking for reliable purchasing agents on Weibo, Xiaohongshu, and other platforms.
Moreover, the business of customizing LinaBell dolls has also taken off. A price list from a seller in the customization circle shows: 20 yuan to change the nose, 40 yuan for mouth line adjustment, and 70 yuan to create a wink eye.
Currently, LinaBell dolls and a variety of related peripherals are being snatched up by everyone. Taobao and Xianyu are still selling a large amount of purchasing agent services and knockoffs of LinaBell, although the prices have started to fall.
Among Generation Z adult consumers, especially young women, Duffy's family member StellaLou and LinaBell may even be more popular than Mickey Mouse. StellaLou and LinaBell are sought-after in the wave of a beauty-driven economy, and being attractive is the main reason : the girlish color series of pink and lavender create a feeling of youthfulness, and StellaLou's Tiffany blue bow and skirt, as well as LinaBell's cute pink orchid headdress, are precisely targeted at young women.
Whether it's Duffy the bear, StellaLou the rabbit, or LinaBell, their image design shares some common elements: choosing commonly used plush animals like bears, rabbits, and cats, with round, soft facial features, big eyes, and upward-curving mouths, complemented by the gentle macaroon color scheme. All these elements combined make them look cute and non-aggressive, perfectly fitting the unique "Moe Culture" of East Asia. Cute things often create childhood fantasies for us, soothing the weary souls of adults.
To a large extent, it is the changes in the internet landscape and the evolution of Generation Z's consumer habits that have made the "star-making model" of the Duffy family a great success. Young people face high pressure and fast-paced lives, and the "Moe Economy" satisfies the most basic emotional needs of consumers. The seller family, who sell "cuteness," also capitalizes on the consumer's fear of missing out, using "limited edition" and "bestseller" strategies to turn their products into social currency for consumers, stimulating consumption among Generation Z. For Generation Z, consumption based on "Moe Economy" has become a kind of conspicuous consumption.
