Many Malaysians are familiar with the tea brand CHAGEE (霸王茶姬) – and in China, the brand is unsurprisingly even more popular, with thousands of branches in the country. Unfortunately, being one of the biggest brands in the industry does come with its downsides, notably knock-offs and plagiarism.
Chinese influencer agency Three Sheep Group (三只羊网络) is known for promoting new products through live streams. Recently, the agency promoted a tea product named Mo Li Jue Xian (transliteration of 陌莉绝弦) from the brand Li Mo Tea (李陌茶). However, many viewers noticed that the brand bears a resemblance to CHAGEE and its signature product, Jasmine Milk Green Tea (伯牙绝弦).
Not only are the names of the two products similar, with only the two front characters switched out, but the packaging of Mo Li Jue Xian looks similar to CHAGEE. As shown in pictures, Mo Li Jue Xian’s packaging features a black line artwork on top of an off-white background and a black bar across the middle of the package with the name in the middle – all components of CHAGEE’s branding.
Netizens begin calling out the agency for promoting a knock-off product and allowing plagiarism. However, host Kang Kang (康康) denied the allegation, arguing that Li Mo Tea and Mo Li Jue Xian didn’t plagiarise the renowned tea brand but instead “learnt” from them. He explained that CHAGEE had already published the recipe, so the brand merely “learnt” the recipe and made a new product. However, the explanation doesn’t clarify the similarities in the packaging and name.
CHAGEE has been made aware of the plagiarism issue and said the company’s legal team will investigate the allegations. This incident isn’t the first time Three Sheep Agency got in trouble for their promoted items because they recently got fined 69 million yuan (approximately RM40.7 million) for false advertising and misleading consumers after they tried to pass off Chinese-made mooncakes made in Hong Kong.
Given their past wrongdoings, it’s hard to side with Three Sheep Group on this issue – but what are your thoughts? Do you think Mo Li Jue Xian is a blatant copy of CHAGEE? Here’s a closer look at Mo Li Jue Xian:
@hypemalaysia This Chinese company is getting heat for promoting “fake CHAGEE”. Here’s a look at the product:
Sources: Oriental Daily, China Press, 163
