Labubus and the brainrot aesthetic

Kyle Chayka argues that a new Gen Z aesthetic, visually ugly or yucky but freighted with symbolism, reflects a desperate need to manipulate our own images in a post-A.I. moment. He points to products like Labubu toys, Dubai chocolate, and Starbucks' strawberry matcha latte as examples. Citing Dean Kissick, he describes the style as relishing its own artificiality. Chayka also notes that Hers sells a semaglutide-like drug in matcha-colored packaging, which he calls magical thinking given the incomprehensibility of the present.