Not Even Female Employees Are Spared — Yeeshu (椰树) Gets Richer by Pushing the Boundaries

Factory open day blows up into new controversy

A spring‑festival “factory open day” at Yeeshu (椰树) meant to showcase how its coconut juice is produced instead ignited fresh public outrage after visitors photographed sexually suggestive copy and model shots displayed in the plant. The images and slogans prompted online condemnation — “not even your own female employees are spared,” wrote some users — and it has been reported that Haikou’s Market Supervision Bureau held talks with the company on March 2. Yeeshu reportedly told authorities it would “internally handle the matter”; journalists seeking comment had not received a response by publication time.

A long pattern of courting heat for attention

This is not new. Yeeshu has repeatedly tested China’s advertising norms for more than a decade, from a 2009 bus ad that drew a 1,000‑yuan fine to a string of higher‑profile incidents — a disputed 2016 “chest model” water bottle, a 2019 ad fined 200,000 yuan, a 2021 recruitment spot fined 400,000 yuan, and another 400,000‑yuan penalty in 2024. It has been reported that the company’s own internal narrative frames some past uproars as “successful responses” that generated mass attention and boosted brand awareness. Cumulatively the fines amount to only a little over one million yuan, while the business has repeatedly posted revenues in the tens of billions of yuan: 5.1 billion yuan in 2023 after a viral Douyin push, for example.

When controversy becomes commercial strategy, how long will it last?

Observers ask: is this accidental escalation or deliberate strategy? In 2022 Yeeshu leaned into live‑stream spectacle on Douyin, with high‑traffic shows and provocative presentation that helped lift sales after years of stagnation. But the company’s core advantage remains product familiarity and taste — many consumers say they tolerate the marketing because the coconut juice still “tastes good.” At the same time, China’s beverage market is changing fast: global and regional coconut‑water brands and health‑oriented alternatives are growing, and younger buyers increasingly prefer low‑sugar, “natural” positioning. It has been reported that Yeeshu’s reliance on controversy and a single blockbuster product raises questions about whether fines and headlines can substitute for innovation in an intensifying market.