Why China is obsessed with this evil bear

How did a character from a 15-year-old movie suddenly go viral? Stop leaving yourself vulnerable to data breaches. Go to my sponsor https://aura.com/christophe to get a 14-day free trial and see if any of your data has been exposed. Join Newpress, our community-driven hub for creator journalism: https://newpress.com/begin A few weeks ago, a subscriber named Marco De Nobili told me a story. Walking the streets of Shenzhen and Guangzhou during a work trip to China, he noticed something strange: Lotso — or Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear, the cuddly pink villain from Toy Story 3 — was everywhere. Images of his face were emblazoned on the sides of cars, scooters, and mopeds; shops were filled to the brim with every kind of Lotso-themed merchandise. Marco was confused. He’d been to China before, most recently in 2018. But he’d never seen anything like this. In Europe, where he lives, Lotso isn’t a particularly well-known character. Same goes where I live in the United States — you’ll see plenty of Mickey Mouse, Hello Kitty, Snoopy, or Winnie-the-Pooh. But in China, Lotso has become a phenomenon. Marco wanted to know why. I went down a rabbit hole to figure it out. Read Yaling's Following the Yuan newsletter about the Lotso phenomenon: https://www.chineseconsumers.news/p/t... Special thanks to: Marco De Nobili, Tunnel Vision subscriber Yaling Jiang, Writer, Following the Yuan Isabella Harefa, Disney content creator Bryan Seah, Disney content creator Ashley Wu Hello and welcome! Tunnel Vision is a new independent video news show that dives deep into mysteries from all corners of the internet. With a commitment to transparency, we pull back the curtain on the journalistic process, emphasizing the journey of discovery rather than simply presenting the final answer. Subscribe and turn on notifications 🔔 so you don't miss any videos: ‪@christophe‬ All the music for this video was created by our in-house composer Tom Fox and is available to license or just to listen to on our music channel: ‪@tomfoxcatalog‬ About: Christophe Haubursin is a journalist and video creator. Before launching Tunnel Vision he worked at Vox.com for 8 years, where he made videos for Vox’s YouTube channel, hosted the show Glad You Asked, and produced on the Netflix series Explained. He lives in Brooklyn. Got story ideas or tips? Reach out to the team at: Twitter: / haubursin -- VIDEO CHAPTERS -- 00:00 Intro 01:23 Just how popular is Lotso? 05:36 The hypotheses 07:57 Finding an answer 10:10 When it began 13:46 Why it worked 15:40 The debrief 19:30 The twist