Why a Nestle coffee brands slogan upset milk tea customers

A milk tea shop in Hunan drew online criticism after posting a slogan reading "This shop does not serve fools" and telling customers to drink at shops that make their own milk. A counter sign said the shop uses Nestle milk, calling it an international brand and warning that self-produced milk is risky.

Netizens called the wording confusing, insulting to consumers and aimed at peers, since the store recently moved into pearl milk tea and had copied Mixue Bingcheng. The case shows how tying a Nestle and coffee brand message to an insult can damage trust rather than build it.

A milk tea shop in Hunan has sparked heated discussion online due to controversial slogans posted inside the store. The slogan, written in white text on a red background, reads "This shop does not serve fools," and suggests that customers go drink milk produced in-house at milk tea shops that haven't been open for "a few days." This way of expressing things not only left many netizens confused, but was also seen as "taking jabs at peers and insulting consumers." Notably, this shop previously imitated Mixue Bingcheng, and recently pivoted to the pearl milk tea track, with its promotional slogan also accused of being similar to Baozhu Gong. Is this kind of marketing strategy clever or shooting itself in the foot? Let's find out.

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Recently, a local milk tea shop in Hunan became the focus of discussion among many netizens because of the eye-catching slogans inside the store.

From photos taken by customers, it can be seen that this milk tea shop has posted a slogan in white text on a red background in a prominent spot, which reads: "This shop does not serve fools. Please go drink at a place that produces its own milk at a milk tea shop that has only been open for 'a few days'." At the same time, there is also a warning sign on the counter that reads: "This shop uses Nestle milk, an international big brand. Drinking self-produced milk is risky!"

Faced with these two slogans, many netizens' first reaction was that they could not understand their meaning. "I can't even understand what this says," and some also joked that they needed a "Chinese-to-Chinese translation" to understand what the slogans were trying to express. Netizens with obsessive-compulsive tendencies could not help but complain about the layout and design: "This is not how quotation marks are used in vertical text (clenched fist)," "Never mind whether this layout can find a better graphic designer."

Those who saw through the surface speculated that this shop, which features freshly simmered brown sugar pearl milk tea, might be using a unique way to market its own brand while implicitly referring to competitors in the industry. "I thought you were talking about Chayan," "Could it be referring to Chen Wending or Baozhu Gong?"

Regarding this approach, many people felt that although the shop's slogans seemed to emphasize that its drinks use carefully selected ingredients and are trustworthy, due to the wording and way of expression, the impression given to passersby was "taking jabs at peers and insulting consumers," which instead discouraged customers who had originally wanted to go in and try it.

However, some local residents said they were not surprised by what this milk tea shop did. They revealed that this shop first imitated Mixue Bingcheng, launching products such as milk tea and fruit tea, and only recently switched to pearl milk tea.

Nearby residents said they had once been misled into placing the wrong order because the poster at the entrance was highly similar to that of Mixue Bingcheng. Some customers also noticed the shop's promotional slogan "reddened the daughter's cheeks," and believed it had a similar meaning to Baozhu Gong's slogan "pearl milk tea that daughters can drink with peace of mind."

Many people said bluntly that this milk tea shop seemed like "a hodgepodge of several brands," lacking its own brand characteristics, and the drinks in the store were also "whatever is popular, do it quickly," seriously homogenized with popular tea drinks on the market. Perhaps precisely because it lacked a memorable point that would leave a deep impression on customers, some speculated that the store owner came up with the idea of using slogans for marketing, so that customers entering the store would better understand the brand.

However, in the eyes of the public, this slightly offensive slogan seemed more like shooting itself in the foot for this milk tea shop. Not only did it fail to achieve the expected effect, but it instead attracted customer dissatisfaction and resentment. As netizens said, leaving aside whether this slogan was belittling peers, simply using a negative word like "fools" to describe customers who walk in already makes people uncomfortable, and further discourages customers from placing orders.

Image source: Internet

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