Nestlé Executive Reacts to “Awkward” ‘White Lotus’ Piña Colada Brand Collab With Coffee Mate
[This story contains spoilers for The White Lotus season three finale, “Amor Fati.”]
The poisonous Piña Colada was not only shocking for White Lotus fans but also Coffee Mate’s marketing team.
Months before the season three finale of Mike White’s hit HBO show aired, the Nestlé-owned brand launched a piña colada-flavored creamer as part of a partnership with The White Lotus. However, Daniel Jhung, president of the Nestlé USA coffee and beverage division, revealed that they actually “didn’t know” just how much the collaboration correlated with the show until the finale aired on Sunday.
“Obviously, the writers keep this [under] lock and key, so we didn’t know that piña colada was such a featured part of the last episode,” Jhung recently told The Wall Street Journal. “I will say that in hindsight, we were showing the different flavors, and the fact that The White Lotus team was like, ‘Oh, you know, piña colada is a really good idea, you should go in that direction’ — it now kind of makes sense.”
In The White Lotus season finale, Timothy Ratliff (Jason Isaacs) nearly murders his family with piña coladas mixed with the poisonous seeds from pong-pong tree fruit, however, he ultimately doesn’t go through with it, quickly snatching the drinks from his family members. The following day, his youngest son, Lochlan (Sam Nivola), uses the same blender with residue from the poisonous drink mix still inside to make a protein smoothie, nearly leading to his death.
After the episode, the Coffee Mate marketing team acted quickly, posting on the brand’s Instagram, “Well this is awkward,” with a photo of their piña colada-flavored creamer.
“The marketing team is a huge fan of the show, which is why we picked one of these properties,” Jhung added. “Again, we didn’t know [what would happen]. The piña colada thing was a surprise to us, too. But once they saw it, they did react pretty fast through our Instagram page.”
The executive continued, “The ‘awkward’ post got picked up quite a bit by consumers, by other brands, because it was so perfect with the show’s ending.”
Jhung also noted that Nestlé is “willing to take risks” to “be part of the zeitgeist and pop culture, and resonate with young consumers.”
The same can’t be said for Duke University, which condemned the HBO show after Isaacs‘ character was seen wearing a T-shirt with Duke’s famous logo during the scene when Timothy contemplates suicide and holds a gun to his head.
“The White Lotus not only uses our brand without permission,” Frank Tramble, the University’s vice president for communications, marketing and public affairs, previously shared in a statement, “but in our view uses it on imagery that is troubling, does not reflect our values or who we are and simply goes too far.”
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