By Megan Graham

Warning: This article contains spoilers for season 3, episode 8 of "The White Lotus."

Coffee Mate's marketing team was as surprised as everyone else when poisoned piña colada leftovers almost caused the death of one of its main characters on Sunday night's season finale of "The White Lotus."

Or maybe it was even more surprised: The Nestlé-owned brand had months earlier launched a piña colada-flavored creamer as part of a collaboration with the HBO show.

"Well this is awkward," the brand said on Instagram on Monday.

The rum-based cocktail features prominently in "The White Lotus" finale, which aired Sunday, April 6. A disgraced businessman Tim Ratliff, played by the British actor Jason Isaacs, nearly murders his family with piña coladas blended with seeds from the poisonous pong-pong tree fruit and then decides against it. But nobody rinses out a blender with residue of the poisonous mixture, nearly leading to his son's death the next day.

The marketing team behind Coffee Mate, which had launched "The White Lotus"-themed piña colada- and Thai iced coffee-flavored creamers earlier this year in tandem with the show's third season, said it had no idea that plotline was coming.

Daniel Jhung, president of the Nestlé USA coffee and beverage division, spoke with The Wall Street Journal and explained how the brand is reacting. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

WSJ: Has Coffee Mate done many of these brand collaborations in the past?

Jhung: We started this idea of entertainment properties as a limited-time offer strategy probably a year and a half, a couple years ago. We were working with Warner Bros. on cool properties that are part of the cultural zeitgeist. Our first one with them was the 20th anniversary of 'Mean Girls' last year as the first pink creamer. That did really well.

And so this year, we worked with them on 'The White Lotus,' which as we know is a very buzzworthy show set in Thailand, which has a lot of coffee credentials.

WSJ: How much did you guys know about what was going to happen in the show when you were deciding on these flavors?

Jhung: 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. 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.

WSJ: That could have been risky, right? People are joking on social media about not touching it because it was poisonous on the show. You had to take a leap of faith that these flavors weren't going to reflect on the product somehow.

Jhung: You're right. We're willing to take risks like that, to basically be part of the zeitgeist and pop culture, and resonate with young consumers. The essence of limited-time offers, it's about mysterious flavors, intriguing flavors that are not typical in the coffee set, and so it kind of fits well with the show, which is about mystery and intrigue.

WSJ: Walk me through Sunday night. Were you watching live, or were the people on your team watching live?

Jhung: The marketing team is a huge fan of the show, which is why we picked one of these properties. 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 'awkward' post got picked up quite a bit by consumers, by other brands, because it was so perfect with the show's ending.

WSJ: Usually, brand social-media posts need to go through so many layers. How do you think about moving quickly for moments like this?

Jhung: This is the new way of marketing. We've now had some practice on this, whether it's the 'Mean Girls' launch last year or the Super Bowl spot this year, where you have almost a virtual war room type of thing, where you've gotta observe what's going on and then you can react quickly. You give them maybe a few principles, but then you empower them. If they've got to go through five layers of approval, you're not going to be able to do these things in real time. It will take forever.

WSJ: What has been the impact on sales since Sunday night?

Jhung: We don't pick up consumption data for another week. So we'll probably see next week how it did this week. The show going on week by week is helping drive buzz for the flavors. So they're both doing really well in market through the first quarter. But I do suspect that next week, when I pick up the sales data, that piña colada flavor will see a bit of a lift as people try it, just for the novelty aspect.

WSJ: What comes next? Are you anticipating you're going to continue playing with this on social media? Or has the moment passed at this point?

Jhung: I think it depends on how consumers keep reacting, and then maybe even how we interact with other brands, with Warner Bros. If there's a continual dialogue, we'll stoke the fire and continue that on. We're not going to force it. If the conversation naturally dies, then it'll die. But sometimes it brings new life because someone says something clever, or another brand says something else, and you can continue the dialogue.

Write to Megan Graham at megan.graham@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

And so this year, we worked with Warner Bros. on 'The White Lotus,' which as we know is a very buzzworthy show set in Thailand, which has a lot of coffee credentials. "When Coffee Mate Made a 'White Lotus' Piña Colada Creamer, It Had No Idea How the Season Would End" at 5:26 p.m. ET, incorrectly quoted Daniel Jhung, president of the Nestlé USA coffee and beverage division, describing a collaboration with Warner Bros. around the movie "Mean Girls." The collaboration was with Paramount Pictures.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

And so this year, we worked with Warner Bros. on 'The White Lotus,' which as we know is a very buzzworthy show set in Thailand, which has a lot of coffee credentials. "When Coffee Mate Made a 'White Lotus' Piña Colada Creamer, It Had No Idea How the Season Would End" at 5:26 p.m. ET, incorrectly quoted Daniel Jhung, president of the Nestlé USA coffee and beverage division, describing a collaboration with Warner Bros. around the movie "Mean Girls." The collaboration was with Paramount Pictures.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 08, 2025 19:47 ET (23:47 GMT)

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