What Happened With the Chayan Yuese Coffee Street Packaging Case?

On July 17, a social media post accused Chayan Yuese of copying an album cover. The packaging of its new Mountain Pepper Oil Flavored Spicy Shreds showed a cartoon character holding an album closely resembling Khalil Fong's 2024 release Dreamer. Customer service confirmed no collaboration, and the brand pulled the product that afternoon.

Chayan Yuese apologized for weak oversight in its creative review process but had not posted a formal statement on its official accounts. Some observers argued the abstract design was hard to link to the album without sharp-eyed fans; others said a tribute does not excuse use on product packaging. The case adds to scrutiny of coffee street branding among tea and coffee chains.

On July 17, a post about Chayan Yuese's suspected infringement sparked heated discussion on social platforms. Some netizens noticed that on the outer packaging of the brand's newly launched "Mountain Pepper Oil Flavored Spicy Shreds," the album held by the cartoon character was extremely similar to the cover of Khalil Fong's "Dreamer" released in 2024. Netizens asked customer service to verify a collaboration, but were told that the two parties had no cooperation. As public opinion grew, Chayan Yuese confirmed that the product involved had been urgently removed from shelves that afternoon and publicly apologized for the lack of oversight in its creative review process. Although the brand has responded, it has not yet issued a formal statement on its official social media accounts.

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On July 17, a post on social media claiming that "Chayan Yuese is suspected of infringing Khalil Fong's album cover" attracted netizens' attention.

The poster pointed out that on the outer packaging cover of a recently launched "Mountain Pepper Oil Flavored Spicy Shreds" by Chayan Yuese, the album held by the cartoon character eating spicy shreds while listening to music was highly consistent with the cover of famous singer Khalil Fong's 2024 album "Dreamer."

Netizens reported this situation to the customer service staff of Chayan Yuese's flagship store, asking whether it was a co-branded collaboration between the brand and the singer. However, the other party said there was no associated co-branding collaboration with Khalil Fong's album "Dreamer." In response, the poster believed that the brand's use of a design highly similar to the singer's album cover on product packaging may constitute infringement.

After the post was published, many onlookers had different opinions. After seeing the comparison images, some felt that such an abstract design would be hard for most people to associate with Khalil Fong's album cover unless sharp-eyed loyal fans noticed it, and guessed that Chayan Yuese might have intended to pay tribute to Khalil Fong through a clever touch in the packaging design.

But this explanation was not fully accepted by fans. In their view, the designer who drew the packaging design might have been paying tribute to the singer, but incorporating the singer's album cover into the product packaging design without authorization from the copyright holder could attract fans who did not know the truth to buy it. They said such commercial behavior was inappropriate.

As discussion over the product packaging infringement heated up, reporters from multiple media outlets tried to learn more from the brand. A person claiming to be an employee of Chayan Yuese told reporters that this snack product with controversial packaging had been urgently removed from shelves at 2 p.m. on the same day fans reported it.

Later, reporters called multiple Chayan Yuese stores in Changsha to verify. Among them, an employee at the Chayan Yuese Yezi store at the entrance of Changsha Wuyi Temple Street confirmed that the product had been removed from shelves, and the Chayan Yuese Youyuanhui store on the first floor of Jiadun Xintiandi also said, "This product sold out two days ago, and it is no longer in the store now."

In addition, after searching, reporters found that Chayan Yuese's offline stores currently do not sell "Mountain Pepper Oil Flavored Spicy Shreds," and Chayan Yuese's official Taobao flagship store has also removed this snack from its shelves.

Regarding this product involved, customer service at Chayan Yuese's official flagship store repeatedly emphasized, "Thank you very much for your feedback and attention. We have received the situation you reported, and we take it very seriously. It is being reported upward. We are very sorry for the bad experience brought to you."

On the afternoon of the same day, a relevant person in charge of Chayan Yuese responded, saying, "Thank you very much for your attention and feedback. We are truly sorry for bringing everyone a bad experience. After receiving customer feedback, we are fully removing this product from shelves. For our lack of oversight in the creative review process, we solemnly apologize to everyone. Thank you very much for pointing out the mistake. We will correct it immediately, and we also welcome everyone to continue giving us feedback if there are any problems."

However, some fans noticed that Chayan Yuese did not issue statements or apologies regarding the infringement incident on its official accounts on various social platforms.

Image source: Internet

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