Controversial Marketing for Coffee Pots! Merchant Responds: I Won't Kill Myself If You Buy More

The Dark Side of Coffee Marketing: When Controversial Campaigns Backfire

When buying a pour-over kettle, the most conventional approach is to click on a link, scroll through the images, admire the exquisite design and beautiful appearance, and read the compelling product descriptions that create an irresistible urge to purchase.

However, netizens recently discovered a product detail page for a pour-over kettle from one merchant that left everyone feeling utterly disgusted!!!

Basically, every coffee enthusiast has several pour-over kettles at home—one for boiling water, one for brewing drip coffee bags, and several others for different occasions and bean types. Although famous brands and championship-winning kettles are excellent, many people still seek out pour-over kettles with unique designs that may not be from well-known brands.

Merchants typically include detailed product information in their listings to help consumers better understand the features and advantages of the specific product they're selling.

However, a recent product description on the Taobao platform left everyone scratching their heads with "??????"

In the product details, the merchant used provocative images completely unrelated to the product, with the caption "Indeed, isn't it similar?"

Seeing this, I have to ask: doesn't this make you cringe?

This borderline marketing approach has angered many coffee enthusiasts. When netizens came across this product, they took screenshots and posted warnings on mainstream social platforms, condemning the merchant for using female models in corsets to promote a pour-over kettle.

Some netizens expressed that after studying it for a long time, they couldn't understand what similarity existed between the pour-over kettle and the images shown. Another netizen from Xiaohongshu pointed out that the strap design elements of this pour-over kettle were similar to the back straps of the corset worn by the model in the product details.

Another netizen mentioned that they had already noticed the existence of images featuring models in corsets when checking this product page back in April.

A Douban netizen commented that it's hard not to see this as deliberate insinuation.

The use of controversial photos to promote coffee equipment prompted many consumers to communicate with the merchant. The merchant subsequently issued a statement on their WeChat Moments, as shown below:

The Double-Edged Sword of Marketing

With thousands of coffee brands vying for attention, effective marketing strategies are crucial. There are countless marketing approaches, and the merchant mentioned above—prior to this incident—had clearly achieved marketing success.

Many netizens mentioned that they became familiar with this seller through the "dog roasting coffee beans" meme, finding it amusing and getting hooked. The "dog-roasting-beans" meme created a cute and fun impression that gave many netizens a very favorable view of this seller, while also quickly generating significant traffic for the seller's brand.

However, this marketing approach for the pour-over kettle instantly shattered the fans' trust!

Historical Context of Coffee Marketing Controversies

Previously, a coffee machine brand also employed borderline marketing tactics, using nude models of different skin tones to promote that their coffee machine could brew coffee of different concentrations, using models' figures to represent the exquisite design of the coffee machine, and having unclothed models embrace each other to suggest that enjoying a good cup of coffee brings a good mood—all of which sparked heated discussions among netizens!

Netizens questioned how this coffee machine brand's marketing managed to pass review... Although the advertisement didn't explicitly state anything, several issues were apparent from the content: vulgar borderline marketing, objectification of women, and biases related to skin color, race, and region.

Such "abrupt" marketing tactics can indeed quickly place a brand at the center of a moral storm, but using vulgar and borderline marketing to attract attention and self-deprecating methods to generate public interest will only result in public criticism and condemnation.

Conclusion: The Cost of Sensationalism

Coffee is a beverage that everyone can make and everyone can enjoy. The consumers of coffee machines and pour-over kettles are also very diverse. While such marketing methods may not technically violate laws, they inevitably invite controversy.

Image credits: Xiaohongshu, Douban, Internet

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