Chayan Yuese Apology: Where Is Coffee From and What Went Wrong?

Chayan Yuese, a Changsha milk tea brand also known as Sexy Tea, drew criticism after copy on its cups was accused of insulting women and trended on Weibo. The dispute centered on the Changsha slang phrase for picking up a basket used on dialect-themed mugs. The brand apologized on the evening of February 19 and again in the early hours of February 20.

The first statement did not quiet the reaction, so a second apology followed, admitting the brand had mishandled the boundaries of early product creation and saying the items were removed from shelves. The episode highlights how dialect slang and jokes about gender relations can misfire, and why brands in the drinks trade, whether selling tea or coffee, need to weigh marketing creativity against audience values.

Chayan Yuese (Sexy Tea) trended on social media after its advertising copy was accused of insulting women, and it issued two apology statements late on February 19 and in the early hours of February 20. The incident stemmed from the inappropriate use of Changsha slang such as "picking up a basket" on its cups, which sparked netizens' doubts about the brand's creative boundaries. The first apology failed to calm public opinion, and Chayan Yuese subsequently issued another statement, admitting that it had mishandled the boundaries of early product creation and had removed the problematic products from shelves. This controversy not only exposed the brand's missteps with dialect slang and jokes about gender relations, but also prompted reflection on balancing marketing creativity with values.

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Chayan Yuese has once again become the focus of Weibo trending topics.

On the evening of February 19, after being accused of insulting women, Chayan Yuese sparked widespread discussion on Weibo, and the brand subsequently issued an apology statement on Weibo.

The matter began like this: A Weibo blogger posted and tagged Chayan Yuese (a local milk tea brand from Changsha, Hunan) on its official Weibo, saying: "A brand whose main consumer group is women, and you still play with memes like this? What exactly are you trying to achieve?" At the same time, several images suspected to be Chayan Yuese copy were attached.

In response to the cup advertisement wording "picking up a basket" being criticized by netizens as insulting to women, Chayan Yuese released an apology statement at 21:21 that evening, saying: "Regarding the inappropriate wording of the Changsha slang 'picking up a basket' on Chayan Yuese's Changsha dialect-themed noble cup, which brought everyone a bad impression, we sincerely apologize to all friends here."

The first apology statement posted on Chayan Yuese's official Weibo

In this statement, Chayan Yuese said: "This controversy arose because during the creative process we failed to grasp the proper boundaries, failed to create copy that would not be ambiguous, and failed to take into account differences in understanding of dialect slang across regions." It also said it would immediately recall this batch of Changsha dialect-themed mugs, and would seriously reflect on the reasons behind the incident, improving its work in multiple areas including creative boundaries, creative management, and product management. However, the matter did not die down because of this apology statement from Chayan Yuese. A few minutes later, netizens commented under the Weibo post, demanding that Chayan Yuese explain more products with suspected inappropriate copy, and the matter continued to escalate.

Chayan Yuese then replied in the comments to questions raised by netizens: "Regarding the tea bags and other products with inappropriate copy mentioned by friends in the comments, during our self-review in 2020, we already removed the relevant products from sale. Thank you all for your supervision."

This back-and-forth response also failed to ease the situation, and some netizens pointed out that this apology statement "avoided the important and dwelt on the trivial."

In response to some netizens' claim that it "avoided the important and dwelt on the trivial," Chayan Yuese released a second apology statement in the early hours of the 20th.

As of press time, this Weibo post had generated 160 million views. #Chayan Yuese issues another apology statement# said: "Following the previous post, we are beating ourselves up. Sorry. The previous response avoided old matters, which was indeed childish. We know that expressing apologies now is somewhat delayed and weak, but we still want to express our apologies again, our attitude of active self-reflection, and our determination to correct our mistakes."

The second apology statement posted on Chayan Yuese's official Weibo

In this second apology statement, Chayan Yuese clarified the relevant explanation and handling plan for products with inappropriate copy. Chayan Yuese said: "The tea bags printed with inappropriate copy and other products with similar problems were created around 2014 to 2015. In the early days, the brand was continuously expanding its possibilities, mishandled the boundaries of creation, and mistakenly treated being clever and playing edge-ball jokes about gender relations as creative inspiration." In addition, Chayan also mentioned that after these products were launched, there were major disagreements within the company at the time. Therefore, in subsequent self-review and self-correction, it adopted the handling plan of immediately removing similar problematic products from sale. It had wanted to handle this in a low-key way, but now it deeply understands that it needs to face the issue more frankly and explain it to the public. Looking back at the whole incident, the Chayan Yuese incident boiled over on Weibo because of "inappropriate advertising creativity." In fact, using creativity in marketing to attract public attention is one of the marketing methods many companies use to move forward, but it is no longer anything new for brand marketing to fail because of inappropriate creative marketing plans. Finally, No matter what brand it is, if it wants to win more consumers' affection, creative work is indeed important, but creation is unlimited, and creativity without boundaries can sometimes have the opposite effect. As People's Daily Online commented: brand marketing must also grasp the boundaries of humor.

In this incident, from the perspective of brand marketing, what is worth considering is this: when brands engage in product marketing and want to attract consumers' attention through creative advertising, they should also consider the values conveyed behind the product. A brand sells more than just products. Beyond meeting consumer needs, it is also crucial to convey the brand's correct values to consumers. After all, compared with creative advertising, what consumers need more is brands and products with healthy values. *Image source: Chayan Yuese official Weibo, internet

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.