What Caused the Luckin Coffee Butterbear Merchandise Dispute?

Luckin Coffee launched its Butter Bear collaboration on September 30 with four themed cups and Small Butter Latte and Americano drinks. Consumers ordering through third-party platforms such as Ele.me reported receiving no co-branded stickers, even though the official promotion said any two cups earn one. Customer service stated orders must go through the Luckin App or mini-program, prompting complaints about unclear channel rules.

The episode highlights how multi-platform marketing can spread inconsistent gift conditions, so buyers should confirm the terms before ordering. The campaign itself rests on the popularity of Butter Bear, a round brown-yellow character already widespread as memes in anime and gaming circles. Luckin, active in co-branded marketing, added butter to coffee for the Small Butter series, and most orders were driven by the merchandise rather than the drinks.

Luckin Coffee's collaboration with the popular IP Butter Bear launched on September 30, introducing four themed cups and a small butter series of drinks, attracting a large number of fans' attention. However, after the event started, many consumers reported that ordering on third-party platforms like Ele.me did not come with the co-branded stickers, which differed from the official promotion of "any 2 cups get one." Customer service responded that orders must be placed through the Luckin App or mini-program to receive the merchandise, sparking consumer doubts about the opacity of channel rules. The incident reflects the problem of inconsistent information communication in multi-platform marketing by brands and also reminds consumers to carefully confirm gift conditions before placing orders.

In the ACG (anime, comic, and games) circle, a round, brown-yellow bear—Butter Bear—has long become a favorite adorable pet for many young people. Its fluffy image has been made into various memes and quickly went viral on social platforms. Whenever its chin-on-hand, dancing figure appears in group chats, it always brings a knowing smile.

Luckin Coffee, which has repeatedly made efforts in co-branded marketing, certainly would not miss this hugely popular bear. On September 30, Luckin's co-branded series with Butter Bear officially debuted.

A total of 4 co-branded themed cups were launched, covering regular hot drink cups, light milk tea series extra-large cups, regular cold cups, and super-large cold cups, with each cup printed with Butter Bear patterns in different poses.

The official names for the two new products are the Small Butter series drinks, namely Small Butter Latte and Small Butter Americano, with names that directly reveal Luckin's R&D highlight this time: adding butter to coffee.

Regarding the Small Butter Latte, Luckin's official Weibo described it as: "Contains imported New Zealand butter, animal milk fat content ≥99.8%; rich and not greasy, richness increased by about 50%, surrounded by butter aroma and nut aroma during the holiday."

The Small Butter Americano was officially described as "calories per cup ≈ 1.3 apples, rich butter flavor intertwined with mellow coffee, refreshing and light."

However, the driving force behind most consumers' orders at present actually comes from peripheral gifts—after all, coffee can be drunk anytime, while bear stickers, card holders, and color-changing mugs are "limited in quantity, first come first served."

Yet not long after the co-branded event began, Luckin came in for a lot of criticism from netizens.

Many said they went for Luckin's promotion of "any 2 cups get co-branded Butter Bear stickers," but after ordering the same set meal on the Ele.me delivery platform, they did not receive the stickers.

When anxious Butter Bear fans called Luckin customer service one after another, the responses they received varied: some stores said their store had already given them all out, some explained that product pairings differed, and others said the distribution of peripherals was subject to the store's actual situation.

Some persistent consumers called the official phone number repeatedly to press for answers. It took nearly 1 hour to get through to a human customer service representative, who told them that orders placed on third-party platforms did not participate in the co-branded peripheral giveaway and that purchases had to be made through the Luckin App or mini-program.

It is understood that Luckin's official Weibo noted in the co-branding teaser introduction that "the activity status on third-party delivery platforms is subject to the store's actual situation," but netizens believe that when Luckin rolled out promotion for this new collaboration across the entire internet, it used the wording "buy any 2 cups," and only explained the purchase channel in the official Weibo and App, which is suspected of misleading consumers.

In response, some netizens also said that Luckin's activities have always been like this. When ordering on third-party platforms, gifts are only given if they are shown; if they are not shown and you really want them, you need to confirm clearly in advance and must not simply imagine it based on the poster, so as not to affect the consumption experience.

Others pointed out that for this new peripheral, the Ele.me platform even has specially set transparent card packages and sticker packages. If "any two cups get one" held true, then there would be no need to set up packages. In the final analysis, Luckin's discount strategies on its own mini-program and third-party platforms are not the same.

Other netizens offered advice: if you order through delivery and want stickers, you can try noting in the remarks that you need stickers. Some stores, when more lenient, generally will satisfy it, since staff also do not want unnecessary disputes over a few stickers.

It is understood that after the above complaint posts appeared, Luckin Coffee customer service occasionally left comments asking consumers to provide their order phone number in the background and saying they would give feedback after verification.

Image source: Internet

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