A merchant page on a certain platform shows that "Ban Banana Green (No Anxiety)" has sold over 20,000 orders. Screenshot from the internet

　　After blind boxes and scratch cards, a new "banana green" trend has swept through young people.

　　At the office workstation, Wang Jie and his colleagues gathered around an apple banana plant hung with a card reading "Ban Banana Green (No Anxiety)," joking about the current popular homophone pun while also observing changes in the apple banana's ripeness.

　　Recently, offices in major cities all seem to have gained a hydroponic banana plant symbolizing "eliminating anxiety." These fruits, affectionately called "office buddies" by young people, are occupying the center stage between workstations and on office desks.

　　"'Banana green' means 'anxiety'; eating the banana means eating the anxiety, giving yourself a 'good omen.'" Wang Jie said.

　　Merchants, precisely recognizing this demand, have begun binding their products to emotional value. According to public information, the explosion of the "banana green" market has brought considerable profits to practitioners in producing areas such as Fujian and Guangxi. "Usually the wholesale price of regular sliced apple bananas is around 4 yuan per jin, while the terminal market price is about 9 yuan. After being made into 'banana green,' the stem is also counted in the weight. For distributors, the profit is naturally higher." Lao Du, a Guangxi merchant, told the Beijing News that the total volume of apple bananas this year is expected to reach nearly 5 million tons.

　　"It cannot be denied that emotional value is becoming an important factor that cannot be ignored behind young people's choice of goods and willingness to pay." An industry insider analyzed, "Affected by this, in the future, in addition to emotional fruits like 'banana green,' more similar consumer goods may appear. Perhaps this is exactly the core that merchants need to consider when creating 'hit products' and capturing the young market."

　　Consumers

　　Group favorite "Ban Banana Green" homophone pun is highly sought after

　　As a post-00s generation, Wang Jie always pays special attention to new things. Not long ago, he偶然 noticed "Ban Banana Green" online and, out of curiosity, couldn't resist placing an order. On the day this potted plant appeared on his desk, it became the group favorite. "When colleagues have free time, they all come specially to observe the growth progress and see whether it is ripe." Wang Jie told the Beijing News, "Besides looking forward to the delicious taste, 'banana green' is also a homophone for anxiety; eating the banana symbolizes swallowing 'anxiety,' allowing work pressure to be digested inadvertently."

　　This kind of plant, different from traditional greenery, mainly consists of small millet bananas or apple bananas with stems; you just insert them into a water bottle and wait three to five days for them to ripen fully. This fruit, originally seen everywhere, is highly sought after by office workers because of the homophone pun.

　　"The banana must be the whole plant, and it must be green; what we want is exactly the meaning of 'ban ban jiao lü (no anxiety).'" Coco, a post-95s woman in Chongqing who had also just placed a potted banana tree at her workstation, said that when she first came to the new company, she bought the banana only for her own viewing, but the plant inadvertently helped her build relationships with colleagues. Coco told the Beijing News that after seeing the bananas on her desk, many colleagues wrote their names on the bananas, and some even made wishes, literally turning the bananas into a wishing tree, and she herself achieved "banana socializing."

　　Going viral among young people quickly made "Ban Banana Green" a hot topic online. The Beijing News reporter found that on Weibo, related topics have been read more than 1.175 million times, and on Douyin, videos on the topic have reached 110 million views.

　　"Compared with previous flowers and plants, the good luck brought by fruits with homophone puns like 'Ban Banana Green' is precisely hitting the consumption pain point of today's young people." Jiang Ling, who has worked in the fast-moving consumer goods industry for many years, admitted that "Ban Banana Green," as a currently hot emotional fruit, can help young people who are in a fast-paced state for long periods and thus develop anxiety find an emotional outlet. "Whether in the waiting process or when enjoying the banana, they can get leisure time outside work, thereby gaining a sense of relaxation and positive emotions after 'solving anxiety.'"

　　Merchants

　　Gimmick boosts apple bananas "mobilized the whole family to pack and ship"

　　On May 22, when the Beijing News reporter visited several fruit stores in Hangzhou, they noticed that many stores had launched similar products.

　　In a prominent position in one fruit store were several potted banana trees made of small millet bananas or apple bananas, with slogans such as "Ban Banana Green" and "Anxiety Is Worthless" hanging on the shelves, and many young people were choosing in the store. "This is a batch of apple bananas we just received; each plant has more than 20 bananas, and the taste is absolutely guaranteed." A store clerk enthusiastically introduced that earlier the market preferred soil-cultured fruit-bearing potted plants such as kumquats and Buddha's hand; since March this year, young people's purchasing trends have changed. "The store began stocking in early April, with each plant selling for about 60 yuan. In just over a month, nearly a hundred orders have been sold."

　　On e-commerce platforms, many stores have begun seizing the opportunity to sell "banana green." The Beijing News reporter searched Taobao with the keyword "Ban Banana Green" and saw about a thousand stores selling it. These banana trees weigh 5 to 10 jin per bunch, and prices range from 30 yuan to nearly 100 yuan depending on weight and number of banana slices. It is worth noting that these merchants' sales have risen significantly recently, with one store reaching 30,000 orders in just one month.

　　On Pinduoduo, the Beijing News reporter noticed that several merchants' sales had reached hundreds of thousands of jin. According to their public data, searches for "Ban Banana Green" rose 70% week-on-week, and order volume rose about 30%, still maintaining a continuous upward trend.

　　"There have indeed been many customers coming to inquire and place orders recently, and nearly a thousand orders of bananas are shipped every day." Lao Du, a Guangxi merchant, said, "The buyers of these goods are mainly young people, and they are basically placed in offices." Lao Du told the Beijing News that he runs an upstream fruit supplier enterprise in Guangxi; in addition to running his own store, his daily work also includes going to producing areas to harvest agricultural products and then supplying them to other e-commerce peers and wholesale markets.

　　"Usually the wholesale price of regular sliced apple bananas is around 4 yuan per jin, while the terminal market price is about 9 yuan. But after being made into 'banana green,' although the price is usually also in this range, the stem used for hydroponics is actually counted in the weight. For distributors, the profit is naturally higher." Lao Du said, "My sales in previous years remained at about 3 million jin, but this year, with the unexpected explosion of 'banana green,' sales are expected to reach nearly 5 million jin."

　　Zhang Peng, a farmer growing apple bananas in Zhangzhou, Fujian, also said that the continued rise in the popularity of "banana green" has not only brought many growers and suppliers eager to get a share into the market, but also put him and his peers into busy mode early. Now he ships nearly a thousand orders of stemmed apple bananas almost every day. "In addition to more than ten workers at the factory, I have mobilized the whole family to pack and ship; there isn't even time to take a sip of water."

　　Market

　　The emotional economy "pampered" by young people

　　　　Beyond "banana green," more and more fruits with symbolic meanings are becoming favored.

　　"Now in the office there are also hydroponic black pineapples symbolizing 'I like you,' and small persimmons representing 'everything goes as you wish'; it feels like it has become a fruit-growing area." Coco was deeply impressed; even the boss's office, in addition to the usual money tree, keeps a hydroponic apple symbolizing "peace in all things."

　　"Behind the popularity of 'banana green' is actually an emotional value business." Lao Du said frankly that young people in the workplace face various pressures and challenges and long to find emotional comfort and resonance through consumption. Merchants, precisely recognizing this demand, have begun binding goods to emotional value to match the psychological needs of this group.

　　Many young people also admitted in interviews that daily work pressure indeed requires ways to relieve emotions, and whether it was buying scratch cards earlier, growing vegetables in the office, or now buying hydroponic fruits, they all seem like "electronic ibuprofen" tailored for office workers, bringing them emotional value that conveys feelings and soothes the soul.

　　In fact, the "emotional business" is attracting more and more attention and investment. According to the "2023 China Modern Consumption Development Index" survey, the proportion of consumers who consider "pleasing oneself" more important reached 47.8%. In addition, according to the "2024 China Consumption Trend Survey," 64% of consumers place greater importance on spiritual consumption, and young consumers attach even more importance to spiritual consumption.

　　This means that as the post-95s and post-00s gradually become the main force of consumption, emotional value has become a factor that cannot be ignored behind product selection and payment. And the constantly emerging consumption scenarios are also driving the emotional economy to gradually become an industry.

　　Zhang Peng told the Beijing News that it was precisely after seeing some merchants turn apple bananas into office hydroponic plants and receive a large number of orders that he chose to follow suit. During that period, he specially selected apple bananas with good appearance for packaged sales and also put cards, vases, and other items in the cartons. "Although the cost increases by two or three yuan compared with wholesale, the sales volume brought by this segmented track has indeed increased significantly, and many wholesalers, upon learning of it, specially came to seek cooperation."

　　"Recently I am particularly interested in products that relieve stress." Now, in addition to growing hydroponic fruits in the office, Coco has also bought the currently hot "nie nie" stress toys. Public data shows that, influenced by young people's emotional value, the global stress-relief toy market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6.7%, and the market is expected to increase from $2.5412 billion in 2023 to $4.0012 billion in 2030.

　　"It should be noted that similar emotional products are enough just to try for novelty. After all, it is not realistic to grow fruits through the whole process in the office, and similar products may soon be replaced by new items." Jiang Ling said.