Article/Picture Yangcheng Evening News All media reporter Ma Can intern Hou Xuanhua
Recently, a kind of "pinching" decompression toy that can not be broken, broken, colorful, and can be easily pinched into various shapes has become "net red". In recent days, the reporter of Yangcheng Evening News visited many toy stores in Guangzhou and found that these decompression toys were made of soft silicone materials, which made delicious and attractive food shapes or cute animal images, and were very popular. Many of them can reach thousands of yuan after speculation. Experts suggest that consumers should go to the regular supermarket platform to purchase "pinch" toys to ensure product quality.
Offline visit: "Pinch" toys are popular
On May 21, in a boutique named "Muka Muka" in Guangzhou Fashion Tianhe, various food "pinch" decompression toys, such as imitation hamburgers, cassava sticky bags, and liquid persimmons, were on sale with very realistic shapes and prices ranging from 4 yuan to 20 yuan.
At the scene, a young man was shopping. He told reporters that many friends were playing "pinching" to decompress, which was very interesting, so he came to have a look. According to the shopkeeper, the sales volume of such goods has been good since they went on sale.
The reporter picked up a toy experience called "maltose little love color pinch music". The product is soft and emits a faint fragrance. No matter how you knead it with your hands, it can recover in a few seconds.
In another store called "The Faith Mind", the reporter saw a pinched duck product with the nominal price of "Mengmeng Da Chong Duck", which was 10 yuan. Its image was cute and cute, and several children were having fun. The "decompression and softening soap" marked at 29.9 yuan is the new favorite of white-collar workers. Miss Fu, who works in Guangzhou, said that in the workplace, it is inevitable that there will be all kinds of pressure, and even sometimes the mood is particularly uncomfortable. "At this time, pinching this toy can temporarily ease the bad mood, and release the emotion."
During the visit, the reporter found that most of the "pinched" products sold in Guangzhou came from East China and were produced in batches by enterprises. The person in charge of a boutique in Zhujiang New Town said that all the goods she bought were genuine, and there was also a test certificate provided by the supplier.
According to the reporter's visit, the "pinch" toys are mainly made of TPR and PU materials, and their outer packages are printed with warning words such as "suffocation danger", "non food not to be eaten", "not suitable for children under 3 years of age", etc.
Online visit: thousands of yuan can be sold for popular products
On May 22, the reporter searched for "Pinnacle Decompression Toys" on an online platform, and nearly 10000 search results appeared. The reporter looked carefully and found that these decompression toys have a wide range, involving food, small animals, various objects and other types. Some products have neither certificate, product name, factory name and address, nor ingredients, content, precautions, etc., so there are major potential safety hazards.
It is worth mentioning that some of the "pinch" toys sold in online stores are purely handmade, and the materials used are food grade silica gel. Merchants will use words to describe such information in their home pages. According to the merchants, due to the long production cycle and small quantity of goods, the limited pre-sale mode will be adopted.
Ms. Zheng, a "pinch" toy enthusiast, said that online limited pre-sale is usually promoted in the live broadcast room, where buyers report their numbers through the pop-up screen, first come first served, or pay directly through the "flash link". Taking a 200g "pinch" toy as an example, the average price of an ordinary store is 40 to 50 yuan, while the average price of a well-known store is 70 to 80 yuan.
Due to the limited sales, many scalpers are eyeing "pinching" toys. They changed their high prices after snapping up, and the price of popular products after speculation can reach 700 to 800 yuan, or even thousands of yuan.
Ms. Zheng said that most of the people who bought "pinch" toys online at high prices were college students, or young people under 30 years old, as well as a small number of primary and secondary school students. Compared with online purchase, "pinch" toys sold in offline stores are more affordable. Therefore, most primary and middle school students are more willing to buy offline physical stores.
Expert advice: Be sure to purchase on the formal platform
"Pinch" is a relief toy, which can be divided into many types, such as squeezing, smashing, and kneading. Why are so many people keen on this?
Zhu Yi, an associate professor at China Agricultural University, said that when people are under too much pressure, their muscles can not be relaxed. Playing decompression toys can help relax their muscles. At the same time, everyone's emotions and pressures need to be relieved. Decompression toys have the function of venting and transferring emotions, which psychologists call "empathy". And those cute dolls, like a listener, can also give people some emotional comfort.
The reporter noticed that many decompression toys were marked as TPR. After inquiry, this material is thermoplastic rubber with good resilience and wear resistance, but plasticizer is required for production. If the imported TPR materials are unqualified or the production process is not rigorous, the seemingly environmentally friendly toys may have phthalates exceeding the standard, and harmful substances introduced due to colorants or substances not allowed by laws and regulations.
In fact, the Guangzhou Municipal Committee of Consumer Affairs has published the comparative test results of 37 decompression toys. The test results found that these toys had quality problems and potential safety hazards such as excessive plasticizer, excessive release of volatile organic compounds and xylene, excessive total bacterial count, and excessive noise.
In this regard, Zhu Yi suggested that when consumers buy "pinching" toys, they must buy them through formal channels or a reputable supermarket platform, so as to have quality assurance.
"We should learn to decompress scientifically." Zhu Yi also said that proper sports, painting and listening to music can relieve our emotions and transform pressure. However, when people have other psychological problems due to too much pressure, they should go to the hospital in time.
Edited by: Wu Jiahong