Ban On Scantily Clad Models Selling Coconut Juice Sends Sales Plummeting And Puts 20,000 Jobs At Risk

This is the before and after video showing the effect of censorship on advertising that was deemed too raunchy to sell coconut juice putting thousands of jobs at risk.

The advertising used to involve scantily clad girls and occasionally male models selling coconut drinks by dancing in front of the camera while holding a bottle of clear coconut juice produced by the Coconut Tree Group.

After the switch to the new style of adverts, sales went through the roof three years in a row.

But Chinese standard officials were not impressed, saying it was not appropriate even though on social media the videos seem to have largely found favour.

The Longhua Branch of Haikou Municipal Administration for Market Regulation slapped the company with a CNY-400,000 (GBP-5,570) fine, ordering them to be more appropriate in the way they market their product.

As a result the firm also warned that the change with both the women and men in their advertising videos wearing COVID-style protective gear would put 20,000 jobs at risk.

Speaking after the fine issued on 11th May, the company also said that 500,000 coconut farmers in Hainan risked being unable to sell their coconuts.

One of the withdrawn “Coconut Milk Milk” advertisements after the penalty of GBP 44.000 for Hainan Coconut Group by the Longhua Branch of the Haikou Municipal Administration for Market Regulation for vulgar advertisements in China. (AsiaWire)

Until the penalty on advertising, this is the fourth consecutive year that Coconut Tree Group has achieved revenue growth.

Coconut Tree Group Co., Ltd. was established on 25th July 1980.

Aside from the sale of coconut juice for which it is most famous, its main business areas include the production and sale of various juices, milk, mineral water and tea.

Yin Dandan, the person in charge of the Coconut Juice Live Broadcast Room, defended the strategy with the models that have been banned saying it was necessary to break out of the original dated publicity methods and do another kind of marketing and publicity, injecting new models into the old brands and rejuvenating them with new vitality.

Regarding the negative labelling of Coconut Group on the Internet, a Coconut Group spokesman responded: “We will respect different opinions, uphold an inclusive attitude, and stick to our true intentions.

“We hope that we will not lose the self-persistence of the brand in the opinions of netizens.”