Frozen Fruitage's Brand Revival: "Tolerance" Behind Food Safety Concerns

Recently, Frozen Fruitage was exposed by media during 3·15 period for using overnight fruit slices to make drinks and having sanitation issues in some stores in Yichang, Hubei province. This unexpected backlash triggered a collective defense mechanism among consumers, which unexpectedly led to an opinion reversal. This phenomenon reflects the complexity of consumer psychology and reveals the public's deep concern about food safety issues.

Consumers voiced their concerns, saying "It's not that lemons are overnighted, but I'm buying late," repeatedly emphasizing Frozen Fruitage's high value-for-money and relatively safe products. They believe that compared to other similar brands, Frozen Fruitage's "overnight lemon slices" are just a minor issue. As media commentators continued to remind the public that "low price does not mean low quality; 4 yuan's milk tea should have food safety bottom lines," netizens' comments were dubbed as "dad-like advice." Public resistance spirits grew stronger, causing Frozen Fruitage's stock prices to rise instead of fall in the days following the exposure.

Equating consumers' tolerance for Frozen Fruitage with their neglect of food safety issues is hasty and one-sided. Instead, this "tolerance" reflects consumers' understanding and concern about food safety. Under the hot posts claiming to defend Frozen Fruitage below online forums, many high-rated comments emerged, as netizens expressed their hope that media and regulatory agencies would pay more attention to and report on major food safety events, such as school canteen food safety issues or certain well-known snack brands' falsified ingredient lists. They believe these issues are more relevant to their own health and life security than overnight lemons.

As for Frozen Fruitage itself, the public's tolerance may pose a greater challenge for the brand. Most of its stores operate on a franchise model, with the number of franchises increasing and expanding in scale, making management more difficult and food safety risks rising. Some netizens' concerns are reasonable: when franchisees see that everyone is tolerant towards Frozen Fruitage, won't they be more likely to develop an attitude of complacency, risking taking reckless measures for a quick profit? Franchisees exposed for food safety issues will ultimately pay the price with the brand's overall image. Enterprises should sound the alarm and take this event as an opportunity to strengthen supervision and management of franchise stores, lest the brand that has garnered people's trust fall into crisis once again.

Consumers' tolerance for Frozen Fruitage is a double-edged sword, reflecting both consumers' recognition of the brand and their rational thinking about food safety issues, as well as higher expectations placed on media, regulatory agencies, and enterprises. All parties should work together to ensure consumers' food safety, protect consumers' legal rights, and promote the healthy development of the food industry.