Russia’s largest bubble tea chain, Pims, sparked backlash this week over an Instagram ad that critics say promotes sexual harassment.
The video shows a man frisking a woman in a short dress against the glass window of a cafe, accompanied by the tagline: “The Pims police are on the hunt for those who choose to make Pims at home.”
The feminist media outlet Kosa reported Wednesday that the company later edited the caption to include the phrase “no harassment” and posted a follow-up ad showing a woman frisking a male model.
Pims disabled comments on both posts, which had been shared nearly 10,000 times as of Thursday afternoon.
“We turned off the comments because we knew there would be a lot of ‘opinions that no one asked for,’” the company told blogger and creative director Anastasia Khavalkina on Tuesday. “But we read everything and love it when we’re being discussed,” a PR manager added.
Pims defended the campaign as intentionally “provocative” and said the two videos were part of an ongoing “mini-series” aimed at its core audience.
The ads were posted on Instagram amid a rise in harassment reports from women in Moscow, following a self-described male pickup coach urging his followers to grab strangers by the waist.
Founded in 2018 in Moscow, Pims has since expanded to about 30 locations across Russia, as well as in Dubai and Bangkok.
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