The Coffee Industry's Enema?! Luckin's New Product Feedback Even Made the Official Brand Say: Thank You for Your 'Feedback'...

What? What made this netizen post such an "enlightened" comment?

Since the last Blue Sky White Cloud Latte that could bring a trace of rich sweetness to everyone's lives, Luckin has launched new products again... As usual, every Luckin new product inevitably sparks heated discussions among netizens. However! The direction of this discussion not only stunned the onlookers, but even Luckin's official account posted: Is this... really true ( •᷄ὤ•᷅)?

Before Luckin officially launched the Plum Latte this time, some netizens had already started asking what kind of combination this was, and wouldn't drinking it cause digestive issues? For this reason, on the second day after the post, many netizens, after some practical experience, answered the question...

The unanimous focus of everyone's discussion made Luckin's official team start to question their existence...

And couldn't help but comment:

Because the new product really caused many people who drank it to exhibit the same symptom, some netizens even reported experiencing stomach cramps after drinking it. For this reason, Luckin's official team panicked! Four days after the new product launch, they issued an educational response.

Luckin stated that the netizens' discussions about "toilet light," "heart-stealing gut-wrenching," "tired legs from squatting," and "the coffee world's laxative" are actually because coffee can boost metabolism and promote intestinal peristalsis, which leads to that feeling of smoothness. They also specifically reminded netizens that while coffee is delicious, you shouldn't overindulge~

In response, some friends asked whether the cause of the smoothness might be due to excessive fermentation of plum juice inside, because many netizens reported that this new product tastes like alcohol. So Luckin's team couldn't sit still! "You're overthinking it! If we really used plum concentrate, we wouldn't need to check the ingredients - Luckin would have put up prominent advertisements ourselves! There's only plum-flavored syrup inside!"

Luckin's official team also stated on the second day after the new product launch that the Plum Latte contains no alcohol, so everyone can enjoy it without worry!

So what caused so many netizens to experience the same symptoms? Most of it was caused by lactose intolerance + psychological factors. Luckin's team repeatedly stated that there are no plum components in the syrup at all, so you can't say it's unrelated to plums - it's completely unrelated.

According to relevant research, lactose intolerance occurs because in most people, the activity of lactase in the intestines rapidly decreases after 3-5 years of age. When lactose enters the intestines, because it's not broken down and absorbed in time, it's instead utilized by bacteria in the intestines, producing gases such as acetic acid, propionic acid, ethyl carbon dioxide, etc., triggering various intestinal symptoms.

In China, over 80% of people suffer from varying degrees of lactose intolerance symptoms. Mild cases may only experience bloating after consuming dairy products, while severe cases may experience abdominal pain and diarrhea.

So why didn't so many people experience obvious lactose intolerance symptoms with many of Luckin's previous new products that also contained milk ingredients? Part of it was due to conditioned reflex reactions caused by psychological reasons. This situation is inseparable from the fact that many people were discussing that this new product has a laxative effect after drinking it, which sparked everyone's curiosity, and they all went to try a cup with the same mindset.

During the drinking process, the brain continuously sends signals to the intestines: "Yes, when you feel the milk coffee passing through you, you start peristalsis for me!" And so, many people appeared who experienced the same symptoms from the same coffee.

Some intestines might have gotten too excited all at once - usually when milk passes through, they ignore it, but today after being stimulated by the brain like this, they lost control and the frequency of peristalsis increased. Of course, this doesn't exclude the possibility that some intestines still ignored it, which is why some netizens reported that they specifically drank it for the laxative effect, but didn't feel any reaction at all.

Unexpected Marketing Success

Although the trend of discussion about this new product didn't seem very positive, because most people's feedback was only about experiencing intestinal smoothness after drinking, and not too many people experienced serious adverse reactions, and the official response was timely, there weren't too many negative impacts.

Not only that, Luckin actually embraced the hashtag #diarrheatips and started promoting the miraculous effects of this new product! Netizens, out of curiosity, rushed to try a cup... I have to say, this reverse marketing is absolutely brilliant... It managed to bring a unique and clear label to the new product. Even though this label isn't positive information, the sudden meme, when utilized reasonably, can really have unexpected effects.

However! This time with Luckin was just a coincidence! They don't encourage everyone to do things that are detrimental to health just for such a "label."

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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