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As Violence Breaks Out Over Design Drops, Who's Taking Responsibility?
Luxury brands like Swatch and Burberry are facing violence at product launches due to scarcity-driven marketing, with people getting hurt and police intervening.
What: Violence has occurred at product launches for brands including Audemars Piguet x Swatch Royal Pop, Burberry x Supreme, Vans, and Pop Mart Labubu dolls, leading to arrests and store closures since 2025. This chaos is attributed to deliberate scarcity marketing, as seen with Pop Mart's 185% revenue increase in 2025.
Why it matters: This highlights how successful marketing tactics, particularly those creating artificial scarcity and FOMO, can have severe unintended social consequences like public disorder and physical harm, raising ethical questions for designers and brands about their responsibility beyond profit.
Decoder
- FOMO: Fear of Missing Out, a psychological phenomenon where people feel anxiety about missing out on desirable experiences or products.
- Product drop: A marketing strategy where a new product is released in a limited quantity at a specific time, often creating high demand and urgency.
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