The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2021
Genki Forest's '0蔗糖' milk tea contained sugar — the label word game backfired
In April 2021 the Chinese drink brand apologized: its milk tea was labeled '0蔗糖' but held fruit sugar and milk sugar — consumers read it as sugar-free.
Genki Forest (元气森林) · 2021-04
What happened
On 10 April 2021, Genki Forest (元气森林) issued an apology statement titled "一个迟来的升级" (A Belated Upgrade), admitting that the packaging and promotion of its milk tea (乳茶) failed to explain the difference between "0蔗糖" (0 sucrose) and "0糖" (0 sugar), which could easily mislead consumers. The product actually contained crystalline fructose and milk sugar.
The company said that from 4 February most milk tea, and from 18 March all milk tea, had switched its labeling from "0蔗糖 低脂肪" to "低糖 低脂肪", and that milk tea produced from 20 March no longer contained crystalline fructose. It committed to completing the label change across the whole line within three months.
The case went viral on Weibo the next day. Critics noted the brand's entire positioning rested on a "0 sugar" promise — its signature sparkling water sold itself as "0糖0脂0卡" — so a milk tea labeled "0蔗糖" was read as sugar-free. 中新微评 (China News Service) wrote: "deceiving consumers, no amount of '元气' will win you the 'forest'." Days later People's Daily accused the company of "playing word games". No fine followed, but the sugar-free narrative's credibility was damaged, and the incident pushed regulators to tighten rules on "0" claims on food labels.
Why it happened
- "0蔗糖" is not "0糖" — the label leaned on a distinction ordinary shoppers don't know, letting the milk tea ride the sugar-free halo while it still contained fruit sugar and milk sugar.
- The fix was already underway before the apology — labels had been changing since February — but the company said nothing publicly until the story trended, turning an upgrade into a confession.
- The apology's title framed the failure as a product iteration rather than a consumer deception, which read as evasive and kept the story in the news cycle.
The lesson
If your label banks on a distinction consumers can't be expected to know — 0蔗糖 vs 0糖 — you are gambling that nobody reads the fine print. Fix the label before the search engine does.
Sources
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