Laurel Tangyuan and Fuwan Chocolate Incident - How to do better people-oriented external communication

Authors

  • WenWei Liao Executive Education Executive MBA, Aalto University, Finland
  • WenWen Yang Executive Education Executive MBA, Aalto University, Finland
  • WeiTsen Lin Executive Education Executive MBA, Aalto University, Finland
  • JoChi Hsu Executive Education Executive MBA, Aalto University, Finland
  • PeiShiou Kao Executive Education Executive MBA, Aalto University, Finland
  • ChangChi Chen Executive Education Executive MBA, Aalto University, Finland
  • PengFei Lin Executive Education Executive MBA, Aalto University, Finland
  • YuShun Pon Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at University of Colorado Boulder, USA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24203/ajhss.v9i1.6494

Keywords:

External Communication, People-Oriented, Laurel Tang Yuan (Tangyuan), Fuwan Chocolate

Abstract

The "Fuwan Chocolate", which originated in Pingtung, Taiwan, is a world-famous chocolate brand. In 2020, “Fuwan” won the gold medal during the “World Chocolate Competition”, which known as the "Oscar Award” in the chocolate industry. After winning the grand prize, "Fuwan Chocolate" took advantage of the momentum and launched joint products with well-known brands, such as Laurel Corp (Tangyuan). Unexpectedly, the father of Fuwan’s CEO sexually harassed a female intern five years ago, and the CEO also scolded the victim for the chaotic private life after his father being accused. This old matter that has been 5 years was brought up to the stage again this year. Although Fuwan apologized on their Facebook fan page afterwards, it was not accepted by netizens. After three weeks of uproar, its co-branded manufacturer Laurel announced the suspension of production of chocolate flavor tangyuan in collaboration with Fuwan. Many well-known Taiwanese manufacturers also followed the step in the meanwhile. The established credibility and image are now seriously damaged. This study is mainly to discuss the external communication methods and processing results of "Fuwan" and "Laurel" by comparing the pros and cons of their processing methods. We hope this research will be able to provide a better people-oriented communication method that may combined with local condition as a reference when same incident once happened in the future.

References

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Hsu, Shin-Yi (2020) An interview with Fuwan CEO – By using a Tree to bar model to make a famious Taiwan chocolate around the world. Magazine Title, Shopping Design. Retrived from https://www.shoppingdesign.com.tw/post/view/5120

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Published

2021-02-26

How to Cite

Liao, W. ., Yang, W. ., Lin, W. ., Hsu, J. ., Kao, P. ., Chen, C. ., Lin, P. ., & Pon, Y. . (2021). Laurel Tangyuan and Fuwan Chocolate Incident - How to do better people-oriented external communication. Asian Journal of Humanities and Social Studies, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.24203/ajhss.v9i1.6494