A bold Chinese trend is flouting conventional beauty ideals: the “New Ugly” style forges allure from chaos and kitsch, creating a cult of the repugnant. The Coconut Palm (Yeshu) coconut drink’s legendary, eye-offending packaging and its Xu Dongdong ad campaign are at the forefront of this aesthetic rebellion. It doesn’t shy away from visual shock – in fact, it turns it into a trend, boldly redefining the concept of “beauty” in the eyes of younger generations. The use of visual chaos and kitsch as weapons unsettles some and fascinates others – but nobody is left indifferent.
Deliberately Ugly: The “New Ugly” Style
In a world ruled by minimalism and perfectly polished design, a rebellious counter-movement emerged in the late 2010s in the Far East, especially in China. This visual trend, known as “New Ugly”, has become increasingly popular among the young generation of designers. It deliberately breaks traditional aesthetic rules, placing chaos and imperfection at its centre. Harmonious compositions and clean proportions are intentionally ignored; instead, the visual hierarchy is completely upended to create turmoil. This approach is sometimes dubbed visual anarchy or digital punk because it flies in the face of every academic design principle.
Here, a vibrant riot of colours, clashing neon and earth tones, chaotic typography and crowded layouts are not mistakes but conscious stylistic choices. It’s not uncommon to see a dozen different typefaces and graphic elements crammed together on a single poster or cover, as if the design were thrown together on a whim in a garage print shop. The essence of “New Ugly” isn’t ugliness for its own sake, but a deliberate provocation – providing a memorable, raw and human visual experience that opposes overly measured, algorithmically dictated taste.
Behind the intentional imperfection lies a kind of visual honesty: this style thumbs its nose at the uniformity that reigns on social media, where filter-polished perfection is the norm. The trend evokes the charm of 1990s garage-band posters and cheap corner-shop packaging – that unvarnished aesthetic which for a long time was deemed shameful. Now, however, Generation Z considers everything that a generation earlier was still ciki (embarrassingly uncool) to be authentic – even rebellious.
From Coconut Milk to Meme: The Yeshu Phenomenon
Few things illustrate the spirit of “New Ugly” better than the iconic packaging of the Coconut Palm coconut milk drink from Hainan – known in Chinese as Yeshu Yezi (椰树椰汁). The carton’s design is a garish visual cacophony: a white background overwhelmed by loud red and yellow text covering every square centimetre, plus a photo of actress Raquel Xu (Xu Dongdong) as the product's face. Together, these elements deliver a visual shock that is simply impossible to ignore. The design defies all accepted marketing rules – the packaging is plastered with bombastic slogans and promises: “made from fresh Hainan coconuts, no artificial additives,” “vegetarian protein drink,” and so on. They even snuck a cheeky double entendre into the cup illustration: the phrase “white and fresh,” which serves as both a product description and a coy, suggestive hint.
Crowning it all is a quote from Xu Dongdong printed on the box: “I’ve been drinking this since childhood” – in Chinese, “从小喝到大”, which literally means “from small to big.” This innocent-sounding line became a national meme almost overnight. Seeing the model’s voluptuous assets, many wits quipped that those had grown big from the coconut milk – precisely what one might infer, given the overtly sexualised photo of the model on the packaging. Interestingly, the Yeshu package design has changed little since the 1980s: the brand deliberately clings to its retro look, so this intentionally chaotic appearance has by now become its trademark.
The startling 2019 campaign provoked the ire of Chinese media regulators, who deemed the promotional material “vulgar” and banned the commercials they found too bold. Consumers, however, reacted with surprising calm – even amusement. Many feel nostalgic about Yeshu (families have been drinking this brand since the ’80s), and most people laughed off the bawdy hints rather than taking offence. News of the campaign spread like wildfire on social media: on Weibo (the Chinese equivalent of Twitter), a related hashtag garnered over 42 million views. More than one commenter noted that the sight was hardly scandalous: “In summer, plenty of women on the street wear less than that,” someone wrote on Weibo, while others pointed out that “whoever buys Coconut Palm buys it for the taste, not the ad.” In the end, the scandal didn’t hurt the brand at all – in fact, it only made the coconut drink even more famous across the country.
Nor was this the first time Coconut Palm has tried to grab attention with provocative, even slightly tacky marketing tactics. Previous commercials often featured scantily clad dancers and sensationalist slogans, utterly disregarding conventional taste. The company clearly enjoyed the spotlight over the years, sticking steadfastly to shocking visuals and bold messages. In 2022, for example, a Douyin (Chinese TikTok) live stream once again showcased Coconut Palm’s raunchy dance-filled ads, kicking off yet another viral storm. Eventually, the authorities were forced to intervene over the drink’s false health claims. In a grudging public statement, the company admitted that coconut milk in fact increases neither bust size nor skin fairness – but by that point, everyone was already talking about them.
Rebellion Against Perfection
The success of the New Ugly phenomenon and the Yeshu-style campaign stems from more profound socio-cultural shifts. Members of Generation Z have grown tired of the flawless aesthetics flooding social media and find it liberating to see visual impulses that are honest, awkward, and even shockingly ugly at times. Deliberately ugly design offers both a refreshing release from the tyranny of perfection and a new avenue for self-expression. Someone who identifies with such a boldly styled object or post is sending the message that they’re not part of the machine, and also that they have a sense of humour. It’s no accident that the trend has now spread beyond Chinese culture: numerous Western brands and artists have also caught on to the appeal of ugly-chic. In the fashion world, intentionally ugly solutions are thriving too – think of the clunky “dad sneakers” or garish plastic Crocs clogs. What would have been considered hideous a few years ago is now a fashion icon. In 2022, even fashion designer Alexander Wang shocked the style world with a daring campaign inspired by the Chinese “gagyi” (tacky) aesthetic: he advertised his luxury collection with a middle-aged, ordinary “auntie” as the model, cleverly mixing high fashion with elements of folksy kitsch. All this clearly shows that “ugliness” has now become a global meme language that everyone understands.
Although at first glance the New Ugly style might seem like nothing more than a prank designed to provoke prudes, in fact, it carries a profound message of design criticism. Nothing demonstrates this better than the emergence of dedicated exhibitions and professional publications analysing the “new ugly” style: designers and aestheticians are examining what this provocative trend says about mainstream visual culture. It highlights that, today, grabbing attention has become the golden rule of visual communication, rather than the pursuit of beauty. In this context, eccentricity and disharmony can be just as winning a strategy as flawless elegance once was. In the age of the attention economy, viral visual content often rewrites the rules of traditional aesthetics. In China, ugly is now the new beautiful: the case of Yeshu coconut milk shows that bold visual self-irony and aesthetic rebellion not only thrive as passing internet memes but can also be the most effective driver of brand awareness in the 21st century.