Recently, the Shanghai-based chain tea brand “Auntie from Shanghai” has sparked controversy due to a wave of “meme” operations. The topic has become a hot search trend.
In recent times, scenes featuring characters like “Xue Zhenzhu” from the hit 2017 TV drama “All Out of Love” have resurfaced and gained popularity once again.
Several netizens have taken to social media platforms to express their concerns regarding the “Auntie from Shanghai” launching beverages like “a swaying magnolia in the wind” and “pouring rain large bucket Americano.” The names are highly associated with the plot and dialogues from the 2017 hit drama “All Out of Love,” leading to speculation among netizens about whether the brand has engaged in a joint collaboration with the drama.
Not long ago, the online ordering app of “Auntie from Shanghai” featured a section called “Auntie who are you looking for,” offering drinks with names like “a swaying magnolia in the wind,” “pouring rain large bucket Americano,” “Zhenzhu milk tea,” “explosive zero lemon tea,” and “exploding blood orange qiong sen grapefruit.” These names clearly correspond to characters, plot lines, or dialogues from “All Out of Love,” suggesting that this move by “Auntie from Shanghai” is seen as riding the wave of popularity through memes.
Audiences familiar with “All Out of Love” can easily spot the “hidden messages” in these names. Netizens believe that “Auntie who are you looking for” corresponds to the classic line of Xue Zhenzhu looking for Ling Ling in the drama, “a swaying magnolia in the wind” is linked to Luo Zijun’s WeChat name, “pouring rain large bucket Americano” points to the scene of He Hanyu meeting Luo Zijun in the rain, and “Zhenzhu milk tea” directly plays on the name “Xue Zhenzhu.”
Some netizens argue that the brand has directly turned the recent hype around “All Out of Love” into milk tea marketing, while others have noted that this is not an official collaboration.
According to Daxiang News, customer service representatives from “Auntie from Shanghai” responded that they currently have no information on any joint activities and advised followers to stay tuned to the official brand account for updates. Meanwhile, staff related to the drama indicated that this seems to be a marketing move by the business and not a collaboration.
Some netizens question whether the brand, despite not cooperating with the “All Out of Love” production team, is potentially leveraging the popularity of the drama’s characters, dialogues, and plot elements as drink names for self-promotion, possibly engaging in unfair competition or using the show’s fame to drive traffic flow.
On August 16th, “Auntie from Shanghai rides the popularity” trended on Weibo.
Regarding this matter, Li Zhenwu, the managing partner of the Shanghai Lizen Law Firm, commented that from a copyright perspective, individual character names, short dialogues, or common phrases are typically not considered as “works” protected by copyright laws. However, from the angle of unfair competition, the situation may vary.
“All Out of Love” was a popular drama, and characters like “Xue Zhenzhu” and classic elements like “Auntie who are you looking for” carry a high level of recognition and distinctiveness. If commercial operators use these well-known elements for marketing purposes, whether it constitutes unfair competition depends on factors like the specific usage, whether it causes market confusion, and if it benefits from others’ commercial interests, which need to be assessed comprehensively.