A Thai food restaurant in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, recently recalled one of its milk tea products packaged to resemble a detergent bottle, as many Chinese parents worried that the novel design may confuse unknowing children and encourage them to drink laundry detergent.

The design, which is almost identical to a detergent bottle apart from the bilingual milk tea advertising slogans, started trending on Chinese social media last December. Clout-chasing milk tea products with similar containers were also found in Chongqing and Guangdong province shortly after the adverts gained popularity among internet influencers and young customers.

Still, the seemingly innovative move sparked heated debate as netizens held different opinions about the design of food packaging.

Critics of the practice believe that the design of packaging for foods and liquids should follow people's conventional thinking and customary habits. Washing products have long been packaged in ways that conventionally denote they are inedible. Once such misleading packaging designs were rolled out, minors with poor judgment would be confused.

"The catering industry should prioritize food safety and quality rather than pursing meaningless packaging designs, while the misleading containers in this case can easily lead to serious danger, especially among young children," wroteone commenter on Zhihu, a Quora-like Q&A platform in China.

"These innovative designs and marketing ideas deserve applause. However, if these practices are at the cost of causing potential personal injuries to others, we need to think twice about it," another commenter wrote.

But others disagree, and accuse worried parents of shifting the blame and making excuses for their irresponsibility in educating their kids. They believe that parents should play a bigger part in teaching their children to tell right from wrong, instead of requiring that society offers them a "completely risk-free" environment.

"Life will always be dangerous for children if their parents fail to take their due responsibility to help them develop good judgment," read another comment on Zhihu.

The products have already been pulled from shelves both in physical stores and e-commerce platforms last week after local market regulators received complaints and launched an investigation. 

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