CHAGEE under fire for legal action threat against influencer; netizens retaliate with boycott threat

 

PR (public relations) disasters. Some cannot be helped; some are simply self-inflicted.

For an example of the latter, one only has to look at CHAGEE’s – the Chinese milk tea chain which has been dubbed as “Oriental Starbucks” – less than tactful response to a social media influencer’s post.

The offending video apparently shows a staff of CHAGEE’s trying to manipulate the milk tea chain’s seventh anniversary tear and win contest whereby customers who purchase a drink from the newly minted tea beverage company stand a chance of winning some luxurious prizes, including Louis Vuitton (LV)/Gucci bags and Apple products.

For the uninitiated, a coupon is placed at the bottom of the cup which customers can redeem. But the video shows staff inspecting each cup and putting aside those containing – one suspects – premium prizes.

While CHAGEE acknowledges that the staff was in the wrong, its threat of legal action and the language used was far from becoming for a company in the service industry.

Many completely unimpressed netizens had no qualm reminding CHAGEE the power of the consumer and the looming possibility of a boycott which has already taken toll in the businesses of KFC, McDonald’s and Starbucks, to name a few brands.

One noted that CHAGEE was quick to flex its muscles in bullying ordinary consumers into submission by threatening legal action.

With another noting the insincerity of the “apology” over the actions of its staff, contending that this was par for the course in corporate Malaysia.

Another opined that CHAGEE’s grounds for legal action was flimsy at best, suggesting that at best “to just blur the face of the culprit staff but never to delete the video”.

As it is, netizens had already reacted sceptically to CHAGEE’s tear and win competition with suspicions that the video of a girl winning a LV bag was not genuine.

CHAGEE should learn from this bad PR move. No good can come from threatening consumers with legal action, especially when they are acting as whistle blowers.

Incidentally, that also means hiring PR talent with the requisite knowledge and skills in dealing with such scenarios. At the moment, CHAGEE Malaysia is staring at a PR disaster unfolding from an anniversary campaign that was supposed to have the opposite effect. 

- Focus Malaysia