[This story contains spoilers for The White Lotus season three finale, Amor Fati.]

The poisonous Pia Colada was not only shocking for White Lotus fans but also Coffee Mates marketing team.

Months before the season three finale of Mike Whites hit HBO show aired, theNestl-owned brand launched a pia colada-flavored creamer as part of a partnership with The White Lotus. However, Daniel Jhung, president of the Nestl USA coffee and beverage division, revealed that they actually didnt know just how much the collaboration correlated with the show until the finale aired on Sunday. Obviously, the writers keep this [under] lock and key, so we didnt know that pia colada was such a featured part of the last episode, Jhung recently told The Wall Street Journal. I will say that in hindsight, we were showing the different flavors, and the fact that The White Lotus team was like, Oh, you know, pia colada is a really good idea, you should go in that direction it now kind of makes sense.

In The White Lotus season finale, Timothy Ratliff (Jason Isaacs) nearly murders his family with pia coladas mixed with the poisonous seeds from pong-pong tree fruit, however, he ultimately doesnt go through with it, quickly snatching the drinks from his family members. The following day, his youngest son, Lochlan (Sam Nivola), uses the same blender with residue from the poisonous drink mix still inside to make a protein smoothie, nearly leading to his death.

After the episode, the Coffee Mate marketing team acted quickly, posting on the brands Instagram, Well this is awkward, with a photo of their pia colada-flavored creamer.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Coffee mate (@coffeemate)

The marketing team is a huge fan of the show, which is why we picked one of these properties, Jhung added. Again, we didnt know [what would happen]. The pia colada thing was a surprise to us, too. But once they saw it, they did react pretty fast through our Instagram page.

The executive continued, The awkward post got picked up quite a bit by consumers, by other brands, because it was so perfect with the shows ending.

Jhung also noted that Nestl is willing to take risks to be part of the zeitgeist and pop culture, and resonate with young consumers.

The same cant be said for Duke University, which condemned the HBO show after Isaacs character was seen wearing a T-shirt with Dukes famous logo during the scene when Timothy contemplates suicide and holds a gun to his head.

The White Lotusnot only uses our brand without permission, Frank Tramble, the Universitys vice president for communications, marketing and public affairs, previously shared in a statement, but in our view uses it on imagery that is troubling, does not reflect our values or who we are and simply goes too far.