What can coffee culture learn from the 1DianDian charity row?

The bubble tea chain 1DianDian drew public scrutiny after a charity post about renovating a room for a boy from a low-income household raised questions online. Readers pointed to a phone watch worth over a thousand yuan and living conditions that differed from the post's description. Local subdistrict office and social work station staff later confirmed the recipient is from a low-income household and an outstanding student.

The controversy widened as people also questioned donated comic books and aid concentrated in first- and second-tier cities, and the brand deleted and edited some posts without a direct response. For specialty coffee readers, the episode highlights how public welfare screening criteria and transparency shape trust, a topic the Daily specialty coffee culture magazine Coffee Works also covered.

Well-known bubble tea chain brand 1 Dian Dian recently made trending headlines due to a public welfare post about helping children from impoverished families, sparking widespread discussion. The brand claimed it helped a child living with his father in an 18-square-meter rental apartment renovate his room and add a desk and wardrobe, but netizens noticed from public photos that the recipient boy was wearing a phone watch worth over a thousand yuan, and that the living conditions differed from the description in the post, questioning whether he met the criteria for assistance. In addition, issues such as comic books making up a large proportion of the donated items and the assistance targets being concentrated in first- and second-tier cities were also raised. As public opinion escalated, the brand deleted and edited some posts but did not respond directly. The local subdistrict office and social work station later confirmed to the media that the recipient was indeed from a low-income household, was an outstanding student, and that all related items were donations. Behind the incident, the screening criteria and transparency of public welfare activities have become the focus.

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Yesterday afternoon, well-known bubble tea chain brand 1 Dian Dian drew social attention and heated discussion regarding its public welfare activities due to a public welfare promotion on social media about sponsoring a boy, and the related topic topped the trending searches within a short time.

It is understood that 1 Dian Dian has long persisted in public welfare activities, deeply engaging in areas such as helping children in mountainous areas and rescuing stray animals, and regularly publicizing information about its activities on social media, thereby accumulating a good brand reputation and winning consumer recognition and support. But recently, a public welfare activity promotion posted by the brand on social media about helping a child from a poor family renovate a room triggered public controversy.

According to the official statement, the sponsored recipient had long been squeezed with his father into an 18-square-meter small room without a decent desk. After learning of the situation, the brand renovated the room for the child and added furniture such as a desk and wardrobe to improve the child's learning environment.

However, sharp-eyed netizens noticed from public photos that the recipient was wearing a phone watch worth over a thousand yuan on his left hand, and that the rental apartment he lived in did not match the "difficult living environment" described in the post. They believed that a child who could wear a smart watch and live in a rental apartment above the level of an ordinary disadvantaged family might not meet the assistance criteria for the public welfare activity.

Second, it can be seen from the pictures that among the sponsored items sent by the brand, comic books occupied an important place, while more practical school supplies did not appear on the child's desk, leading many people to question whether the brand's method of assistance went against the original intention of the public welfare activity, which was to "improve the child's learning environment."

In addition, according to the official 2025 public welfare yearbook report, the assistance targets selected for its public welfare activities were disadvantaged children and students in places such as Lanxi, Nantong, Fuzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu, and Guangzhou, covering 3 first-tier cities and 6 second-tier cities. Therefore, some netizens believed that the brand's public welfare assistance actions might have a tendency toward "choosing nearby," and said the brand should disclose to the public its criteria for screening assistance targets.

As public opinion fermented, 1 Dian Dian deleted the post published on the Xiaohongshu platform that had sparked netizen controversy and modified part of the content in its Weibo post, but it did not make a specific response to public concerns such as whether there was false assistance and the screening criteria for assistance targets.

At the same time, media reporters who learned of this controversy verified the residence of the assistance recipient and contacted local subdistrict office staff on February 26.

Subdistrict office staff said in a media interview that the bubble tea brand staff only helped the recipient renovate one room, and that the related items appearing in the photos were all donations. Local social work station staff also told reporters that the recipient was indeed, as described in the post, "from a poor family and outstanding in both character and learning," was from a local low-income household, and was determined by the brand as an assistance target after screening.

Image source: Internet

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