Xiangpiaopiao shares jump by daily cap after its nuclear-contaminated water protests in Japan go viral
Shares of China's leading packaged milk tea vendor Xiangpiaopiao jumped the daily limit on Monday after its fruit tea beverages made headlines over the weekend for its packaging in overseas markets protesting against Japan's dumping of nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean.
Paper cup sleeves on Xiangpiaopiao's fruity tea drinks Meco were found to have slogans such as "Japanese politicians please drink the water contaminated by nuclear waste materials," and "We can manage without Japan but the world cannot live without the ocean."
The slogans on the cup sleeves were printed in Japanese and Chinese, and were first posted online by an anonymous user who found them at a Chinese supermarket called Kyowa, in the Shinjuku area in Tokyo.
In Shanghai, listed shares surged 10 percent after Xiangpiaopiao's follow-up post on Chinese social media stating "our employees have done a good job!" was also widely circulated online.
The post on Saturday gained more than 320,000 likes on the microblogging site Weibo.
Xiangpiaopiao, which first came to fame for its bubble milk tea, has been diversifying its offerings, including fruity flavored packaged tea drinks and Hong Kong style milk tea beverages in recent years.
Its livestreaming session on Douyin promoting the Meco packaged drinks also gained wide attention on Sunday after President Yang Dongyun, wearing a red T-shirt, joined a livestream to promote the beverages.
According to third-party data, hundred of thousands of viewers rushed to Xiangpiaopiao's livestream room at Douyin and its sales were more than 400 times the normal to a value of more than 1.36 million yuan (US$188,580).
Its Taobao flagship store has also published a notice saying it was storing inventory for the same kind of paper cup sleeves and reminded online shoppers to be patient about any delay in delivery.
Internet commentators have shown support for the homegrown brand but others have divided opinions.
An online user "iced wolf" commented on the news outlet Observer Net that this kind of topic deserves more attention and said Xiangpiaopiao "has done a good job."
Others consider the issue to be a manufactured online stunt to cash in on nationalistic sentiment among young customers.
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