Imagine this scenario: you are enjoying a trip to Thailand while ordering a coffee at a very simple place but to your surprise, the extremely cheap coffee gets served in a luxurious designer item. A bit odd? Absolutely.
You know that because, back home in Brazil, you actually paid a lot of money for that “one of a kind, hand painted” set of coffee mugs from a prestigious brand, but guess what? In Thailand they brought your cheap coffee inside of it. Is this a copy?
Well, you’re shocked but you take a look at the bottom of the mug just to make sure and find an empty space. The same space where, back home, your own designer mug carries the logo from its expensive creator: Tânia Bulhões.
This was the experience lived by Izabela Palmeira, a content creator who shared the “unhappy news” on her TikTok account and very quickly became viral with dozens of people exposing the alleged scam.
After returning to Brazil from her Thailand trip, Izabela decided to check her own mug and, again, was able to confirm that the same “luxury item” was, most probably, a mass produced coffee set but rebranded and overpriced.
The original TikTok video exposing the Brand was soon used as inspiration by other creators who exposed in detail some even more disturbing facts.
On the store’s website, you can find a single mug from this collection being sold for R$210, approximately 37 USD.
So, where does Türkiye fit into this story? One of the Tânia Bulhões mugs was scraped at the base, uncovering its true origin to reveal where they actually come from and yes, a very Turkish name was found to be the place where it all began.
Güral Porselen, a well known brand, offers coffee sets with 12 pieces for an average of 40 to 50 USD. The public outrage was inevitable.
Sure, the import and export business is costly and every single business needs to add fees to the final cost of their supplied items in order to make a living, however that was not the main complaint in the comment section.
The price of Tânia Bulhões’ products varies depending on the piece, for example a set of plates can cost more than 350 USD and a simple set of tea cups range from 120 USD to 175 USD.
To justify luxury, any brand usually adds a touch of uniqueness and exclusivity. In this case, the website described the infamous coffee mugs as being part of a special edition named “Marquesa”, a title related to the old monarchy of Brazil.
According to the website, the “Marquesa” collection was inspired by the old plantations of Minas Gerais state and its lemon trees.
Besides the racial controversy surrounding the design, since these plantations were one of the main centers of African slavery during the 1800s; people were quick to realize a small but important detail: the lemon trees pictured in the mugs were not native to Brazil.
They were in fact, very European. Sicilian to be exact. Not at all designed on purpose but apparently purchased somewhere else, where Italy is closer and the Mediterranean culture is alive: perhaps Türkiye?
A second detail mentioned in the comments was the release date of the “Marquesa Collection”. This specific designed was launched by Tânia Bulhões in 2019 but since the internet never sleeps and never misses a beat; people pointed that in 2011 the same mugs were used as props for a soup opera, proving the “exclusive hand painted one of kind” mug story to be an (alleged) lie.
After the controversy and sudden sales drop, Tânia Bulhões published a statement on her Instagram page, stating that her products are commonly copied and sold online by other brands without proper authorization.
According to the company, the team developed the “Marquesa collection” internally, but a supplier breached contracts and sold leftover pieces from the production which did not pass quality control.
As we speak, most of Tânia’s buyers are taking over social media to express their disappointment while other users are finding it difficult to believe her explanations regarding the designs.
The “Marquesa Collection” was officially discontinued and Tania’s former customers are now taking social media by storm to replicate the “mug challenge” where they scrape the bottom of the mugs to remove her logo and reveal the original factory: Güral Porselen.
In between chaos among the rich, one thing caught the eye of the Brazilian audience: Türkiye’s designs and the great quality of its local products.
A few years ago, the country became well known among the latino community due to its soap operas, handsome actors, intriguing plots and a more “pure” approach to love stories. With a dedicated fanbase, the “Turkish dizi” niche in Brazil is now getting a revival with thousands of people becoming more and more interested in local products such as olive oil based cosmetics, clothes, makeup and of course: food!
Will Türkiye become the new South Korea for Brazilians? The TV and movie industry, as well as the record companies were already paving the way between both nations but with the new Tania Bulhoes scandal, we might see an increase of interest also through shopping.
At the end of the day, the truth is always the same: we live in a world of copies. The only difference is how much you’re paying for yours.
Editor’s Note: The incidents and allegations discussed in this article are still unfolding. The product lines in question appear to have been discontinued, and the situation continues to evolve. Any claims or conclusions presented here are inconclusive and based on the information available at the time of writing.
