Why Luckin Coffee hid aprons inside Zootopia stickers

Luckin Coffee launched a Zootopia 2 collaboration with Disney on November 17, releasing limited-edition drinks, themed packaging and merchandise across two weekly drops. In the second batch, customers found two black triangular shapes on the sticker sheets. They turned out to be peel-off Luckin apron stickers that users place over the movie characters to complete a costume change.

The design sidesteps Disney's strict limits on brand logos appearing on licensed artwork, while still putting the Luckin mark in customers' hands. Fans spread photos of the aprons online and coined the phrase about copyright awareness and creativity. The stunt fits a wider coffee culture trend of turning packaging and merchandise into interactive collectibles that drive repeat visits.

Luckin Coffee has launched a co-branded collaboration with Disney's Zootopia 2, releasing limited-edition drinks, themed packaging, and merchandise, sparking a buying frenzy among fans. However, the themed stickers in the second wave of merchandise contain a clever hidden design—what appears to be an abrupt black triangular pattern is actually a peel-off Luckin apron sticker that users can place over the movie characters to complete a "costume change." This design both circumvents Disney's strict restrictions on brand logos and achieves promotional goals through user interaction, jokingly dubbed by netizens as "a perfect combination of copyright awareness and creativity." Front Street Coffee has also taken note of the marketing ingenuity behind this collaboration, and we'll break down the details and fun aspects of this partnership for you.

▲

Click to follow | Daily specialty coffee culture magazine Coffee Workshop

Recently, Luckin teamed up with Disney's hit IP Zootopia 2 to launch multiple new drinks, limited-edition themed packaging, and a series of merchandise, drawing a large number of fans eager to purchase.

(Image screenshotted from official account)

According to activity information published on the official account, this collaboration kicked off on November 17, with a batch of limited-edition merchandise released each Monday over the following two weeks. However, after the second batch of merchandise went on sale, some netizens noticed something off when they received the themed stickers included with their orders.

From actual photos shared by customers, the entire sticker sheet includes not only movie characters but also decorative elements such as Chinese and English text and small objects. Among them, two black triangular-shaped patterns sandwiched in the middle stand out as particularly out of place, leaving many users confused. Some peeled off the other patterns on the sticker sheet, leaving only these two inexplicable shapes, thinking the staff had made a mistake in designing the merchandise.

However, some sharp-eyed netizens discovered that these two dark patterns bear a familiar little deer head, and upon closer inspection, it dawned on them—"Isn't this just the Luckin employee logo apron?" Interestingly, if you precisely place the two peeled-off apron stickers onto the movie protagonists, you get a hilarious scene of the two characters "wearing" Luckin aprons.

This clever costume-change sticker design prompted netizens to marvel at how unexpectedly creative the brand's merchandise was this time, with comments flooding in like "Luckin you clever little devil," "Sneaky smart Luckin," and "The planner is a true genius."

As everyone knows, Disney is world-renowned as a "copyright fanatic." Whenever it collaborates with other brands, the merchandise and packaging released by the brand partner are affixed with special anti-counterfeit labels. At the same time, Disney as the licensor imposes certain requirements on co-branding partners, such as no partner brand logos appearing on its animated characters.

In Luckin's past collaborations with popular IPs, the IP characters would typically hold drink cups printed with the brand logo or change into special outfits featuring the deer head, using "Luckin elements" to highlight the collaboration theme. But given Disney's high regard for copyright, many netizens speculate that the reason Luckin's sticker sheet adopted a costume-change design may well be to avoid infringement.

At the same time, the clever sticker design also reveals that the brand didn't entirely abandon its original design approach, but rather through the costume-change sticker format, lets the collaboration partner "change into" Luckin work uniforms in fans' hands, becoming themed limited-edition "Luckin workers."

Undeniably, Luckin's creative merchandise design this time genuinely surprised netizens, who exclaimed that both collaborators are "one who won't waste a single copyright fee, and one with extremely strong copyright awareness." Many netizens, after discovering Luckin's hidden little scheme, couldn't help but speak on Disney's behalf: "Disney: ...? Is this allowed?" "Disney: I've never seen such a sly brand," teasing Luckin for achieving promotional goals through users' hands as "absolutely genius."

Image source: Xiaohongshu

Disclaimer: Some images in this article are from the internet. For some content on the website such as images, we will respect the original author's copyright and indicate the source. However, due to the large volume, there may be个别 images and text that we haven't had time to credit. Please understand. If the original author has any disputes, they can contact the website for handling. Once verified, we will immediately correct it. Compiled and edited by "Coffee Workshop." Please indicate the source when reposting. If there is any infringement, please let us know for removal. Thank you ~ !

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