Why did the Luckin Coffee Halloween drink go wrong for buyers

Luckin Coffee released a limited Pumpkin Oat Latte for Halloween, and social media posts drove a wave of store visits. Many customers tried to copy a blogger's look by adding a pumpkin daifuku on top of the whipped cream, but the topping often sank, slid, or toppled, producing results far from the photos. The gap between buyer and seller images exposed confusion over what stores actually provide.

The incident points to a broader pattern in coffee industry holiday marketing: drinks are designed for a photogenic top, while assembly and any extra charges are handled by store staff following operating standards. Customers treating an unofficial DIY garnish as part of the product ran into those limits. Luckin's customer service did not clarify every rule, leaving the styling gap unresolved.

Luckin Coffee launched a limited-edition Pumpkin Oat Latte during Halloween, quickly sparking a social media check-in trend thanks to the festive atmosphere. However, when a large number of consumers tried to recreate the drink based on online photos, they frequently failed, with pumpkin daifuku creating all kinds of embarrassing scenes atop the whipped cream. This discussion, triggered by the gap between buyer photos and seller photos, not only reveals the extra charges behind the drink's styling but also reflects consumers' misunderstandings of store operating standards. Front Street Coffee has noticed that similar phenomena are not uncommon in holiday marketing in the coffee industry. This article will analyze the issue from three levels: product design, customer DIY, and store execution.

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Recently, Luckin has followed young consumers' holiday preferences and launched a Halloween limited-edition Pumpkin Oat Latte. As soon as the news came out, many quick-handed customers bought the drink right away, immediately snapped several photos of the cup, retouched them, and posted festive-looking pictures.

Among these shares, one blogger gained a lot of attention with photos of a uniquely styled drink. According to the pictures she posted, the cup of Luckin's Halloween drink not only had the official standard whipped cream top, but also an extra pumpkin daifuku of just the right size placed on top, making the whole drink look very festive.

After the photos spread, many netizens who were won over followed suit, going to Luckin stores to order the Pumpkin Oat Latte and pumpkin daifuku. As soon as they got them, they impatiently placed the daifuku on top of the drink, only to end up with...

The messy version with cream flowing everywhere

The awkward version with the daifuku sunk into the cream and unable to extricate itself

The funny swimming pumpkin version bobbing up and down in the latte

The pumpkin depth-charge version that does a somersault and then disappears without a trace

The tug-of-war version where, worried the pumpkin will sink, the fingers absolutely dare not let go

After looking at those heart-stirring, retouched buyer photos and then comparing them with the seller photos in front of them that are neither photogenic nor appetizing, the imitators cannot help but wonder: the steps were clearly exactly the same, so how come others can produce beautiful photos comparable to official promotional images, while in their own hands it turns into a "disaster scene" too painful to look at?

So, after repeated failures, a group of photo-taking enthusiasts who are "determined to get the perfect shot in this lifetime" figured out the essential conditions for recreating this viral Halloween drink: be sure to choose the iced version, and do not remove the ice or reduce the ice; pay an extra 3 yuan and ask the staff to add a sufficiently full whipped cream top; and never plop the pumpkin daifuku directly on top, but gently place it on one side of the whipped cream.

If the cream cannot support the daifuku and the top begins to tilt, quickly put on the dome lid to save the situation, then find a good angle and press the shutter quickly, and this way you can get an influencer-style photo much easier on the eyes than before.

It must be said that this method summarized by netizens really did help more people get the Halloween pumpkin latte they wanted, and a large number of similar photos quickly appeared on social platforms.

However, although these frequently appearing exquisite photos invisibly gave Luckin a round of publicity, they also made some consumers who did not know the details mistakenly believe that this was the standard presentation of the Halloween new product. As a result, when some customers received a plain-looking Pumpkin Oat Latte from the staff after ordering, they could not help but question why what they got was different from the online photos: "Where's the pumpkin? Where did my pumpkin go?"

Luckin staff, who had inexplicably been blamed for cutting corners, could only helplessly explain that the whipped cream top and pumpkin daifuku used for decoration in the online photos both require customers to pay extra.

In addition, the staff also emphasized that even if customers want to recreate the same pumpkin latte and buy all the necessary ingredients when ordering, they will not take the initiative to place the pumpkin daifuku on top of the whipped cream. After all, once such an operation is caught on surveillance, it is very likely to be judged as a violation, so netizens who want that distinctive pumpkin drink can only do it themselves DIY.

Image source: Internet

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