ZUS Coffee apologises twice as brand sentiments drop following adidas event

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Home-grown Malaysian coffee brand ZUS Coffee’s brand sentiments took a hit following its participation at an adidas sports and fashion event last month where it served coffee to guests.

Netizens were allegedly unhappy that the coffee brand worked together with adidas which consumers are currently boycotting as the war between Israel and Gaza continues to rage on.

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In a now-deleted Instagram Reel seen by A+M, ZUS coffee cups were served in a cup sleeve with adidas branding at Semua House KL from 26 to 27 April with a giveaway for its followers.

“Good coffee, and new kicks anyone? Because ZUS just fuelled up the @adidiasoriginals event with the locals go-to liquid motivation,” said the brand in the post.

Conversation about ZUS coffee before the controversy around adidas were 28.3% positive and 8.7% negative with keywords such as “sedap” (delicious), “support” and “exciting” being associated by the brand, according to media intelligence firm Carma.

In contrast, conversation sentiments plummeted to 4.7% positive and 40.5% negative after the controversy with its word cloud now including words such as “bye”, “boycott” and “apologises”.

In an attempt to mitigate the situation, ZUS Coffee has since apologised for the incident and clarified that the giveaway was a one-off activity and not a collaboration.

“Nevertheless, we hear you, and we should have known better,” said the brand in a statement.

“As a home-grown Malaysian brand, we hold ourselves to the highest levels of integrity. ZUS Coffee will never knowingly associate ourselves with war and unequivocally condemn any act of violence against humanity,” explained the brand.

ZUS Coffee also said that moving forward, it will exercise greater vigilance and care in its conduct and that it will be taking necessary actions to fortify their policies and procedures to prevent a repeat of the situation.

However, customers were still unhappy with ZUS Coffee's statement which was not clear on the brand's stance on the current situation in Israel and Gaza.

It later put up a second statement acknowledging that its previous apology was not sufficiently clear in addressing its stance against the act of genocide in Palestine.

"ZUS Coffee firmly stands in solidarity against genocide, advocating for a Free Palestine," the brand wrote.

It added that it will be more mindful of its decisions going forward and ensure that its actions always reflect its values as a home-grown Malaysian brand.

A+M has reached out for more information.

Photo courtesy Zus Coffee, Facebook

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