diff --git a/lib/api/github.js b/lib/api/github.js
index 105a40dfec8fce26e1f87cf41ea8ce2681c85424..23846cc4bd3b11987473e7d9ace02f43d17cd02c 100644
--- a/lib/api/github.js
+++ b/lib/api/github.js
@@ -360,7 +360,7 @@ async function addReviewers(issueNo, reviewers) {
 async function addLabels(issueNo, labels) {
   logger.debug(`Adding labels ${labels} to #${issueNo}`);
   await ghGot.post(`repos/${config.repoName}/issues/${issueNo}/labels`, {
-    body: JSON.stringify(labels),
+    body: labels,
   });
 }
 
diff --git a/test/api/__snapshots__/github.spec.js.snap b/test/api/__snapshots__/github.spec.js.snap
index ed38ce9d2ec3bdc08961a771e0ffd9c8b0bdb570..bd71293ada77b183089ecdadae97c81981bfc3ab 100644
--- a/test/api/__snapshots__/github.spec.js.snap
+++ b/test/api/__snapshots__/github.spec.js.snap
@@ -21,7 +21,10 @@ Array [
   Array [
     "repos/some/repo/issues/42/labels",
     Object {
-      "body": "[\\"foo\\",\\"bar\\"]",
+      "body": Array [
+        "foo",
+        "bar",
+      ],
     },
   ],
 ]