A New Generational Divide Opens Over Cheap Stuff on Temu

LaTonya Mullins-Mobley was surfing the web for Arizona Cardinals gear when she stumbled across an ad for Temu, the Chinese online-marketplace app known for ultra-discounts. She couldn’t believe the low prices.

These days, Mullins-Mobley, who is 53 and works for a cellphone carrier, jokes that she’s “having an affair” with the app. She buys clothing, including T-shirts with Bible quotes for her daughter. She started a sunglasses company, picking up pairs from Temu for $3 and selling them for around $15.

Her 19-year-old-daughter, Angeline Mobley, isn’t impressed. 

Angeline recently made a TikTok in which she begged viewers to take the Temu app away from her mother, actually, any mother, “expeditiously. ASAP. Stat.” She hit a chord. “My mom bought 57 of the same spatulas bc they were .03,” one commenter commiserated.