KFC China's Pop Mart blind collab takes the country by storm

KFC China has recently collaborated with Pop Mart to offer dolls after customers buy blind box meals. Although the collaboration has been popular among customers, the fast food chain has been accused of creating food waste as well. 

Offering seven dolls, the campaign is part of KFC China's 35th anniversary of the opening of its first outlet on the Chinese mainland, according to media reports. The dolls showcase Dimoo, a character created by Pop Mart, in different outfits and styles such as Colonel Sanders, French fries and sweet corn. To get one of the dolls, customers need to buy a ¥99 (US$15.5) family set meal. 

It's reported that KFC China is providing a total of 263,880 sets in some of its outlets in China. According to China Daily, within a week, 85% of the toys were sold.  The report also said that as of Monday this week, the topic Dimoo &KFC had been read 91.48 million times and discussed 16,000 times, and some 4,300 related original content items were created.

The collaboration has been popular in major cities in China. For example, some outlets in Shanghai did not offer any dolls after selling the meals for just about three days. Also, a netizen said on her Weibo that she had spent ¥10,494 (US$1,647) on 106 meals. She wrote, "The happiness of the rich, (do you) feel that? KFC (China) is getting more interesting and knowing how to amuse (customers)."

Some customers are also reselling the dolls online. A collection of dolls consisting of all seven characters could cost ¥1,300 (US$204). Additionally, some customers even scanned the blind box to see what was inside. Other customers also put the blind boxes on a weight scale, hoping to offer tips to fellow customers for more information about the blind boxes. 

However, the campaign has sparked concern about food waste and it could be against the law. In April 2021, China passed an anti-food waste bill that stipulates that catering service operators can be fined up to ¥10,000 yuan if they induce customers to order excessive food and cause obvious food waste. To counter this, Chinese netizens have also started organising paid services to help people eat their meals and reduce wastage. 

Pop Mart previously sparked concern and anger among Chinese customers too. In July, apologised after receiving widespread anger from the public as it asked female job applicants about their plans to have children, and if so, when. This question sparked a public outcry on Weibo with the accusation of making money from women while exploiting them. Netizens on Weibo said that employers would worry about how a female employee can balance her life and work after giving birth to two or three children. In response to the public anger, Pop Mart said some of its branches did not follow internal policies when asking this question. On its official Weibo account, the HK-listed Pop Mart said, "As a company whose consumers are majority-female, we always respect women very much." 

(Photo courtesy: Weibo)

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