Week 11 blog: Bangkok cafe owner slammed for trying to sell items used by guest Blackpink singer Lisa
We watched a few news during the week 11 class, and one of them caught my attention. According to Straitstimes (2020): One day Lisa, a singer of the well-known Korean girl group Blackpink, spent her time at Bangkok Cafe. But then the coffee shop owner sold items used by Lisa online including spoons, coffee cups, and even toilet bowls that she used. After this, the coffee shop owner received a lot of replies from Lisa’s fans. People are getting angry with what the coffee shop owner did, they think the coffee shop owner didn’t respect Lisa at all, after this, the coffee shop owner apologized to the public and said he liked and respected Lisa as much as her fans. This is not the first time those kinds of things happened, according to Straitstimes (2020), before someone also sold a chopstick that used by Canada singer Chris Wu, but the different thing between those two-story is the chopstick has been sold, and people have not got so angry with this.
So the reason why when a product has been used by celebrity, then it can be sold by a very high price or can get a lot of attention can be explained by Albert and Ambroise and Florence (2017)’s research, when some brand is suggested by a celebrity, the brand’s volume of sales will increase. This is because celebrities can be trusted by the public. If we change the brand to the items that celebrities used, this will be the same, but like the news said before, the reason why these two similar news story ends so different, in my own opinion, first is because they sell different product, the owner of the coffee sells the item that Lisa close used like the coffee cup they were touch by Lisa’s lips and the toilet bowls, it’s so different than just a chopstick that Chris Wu’s hands touched. This is one of the reasons why Lisa’s fans so angry with this because it’s kind of behavior that has some sexual implications and is very disrespectful to people.
Another reason that people getting so angry is that the price is so high, even though those items are been used by a celebrity, but to be honest it just trash, of course, I am not talking about the coffee cup and the spoons but toilet bowls, this is useless. In my opinion, I don’t think no one wants to buy these items, the main reason that people getting so angry is because the price, if the price is a little bit lower, maybe the story will end a different way. Overall the coffee shop owner has his right to sell these items cause these items to belong to him, but he shouldn’t have done that cause this is a very disrespecting way to people even after he said he sorry for what he did, but the cost of his behavior is irreversible.
Reference list:
straitstimes 2020, Straitimes 5 January 2020, viewed 15 January 2020,
Albert, N, Ambroise, L & Valette-Florence, P 2017, ‘Consumer, brand, celebrity: Which congruency produces effective celebrity endorsements?’, Journal of Business Research, vol. 81, pp. 96–106.
PR assignment 3 week 9 blog 