diff --git a/src/topics/teaser.js b/src/topics/teaser.js
index c4af9cf7ca..907fa9d5e2 100644
--- a/src/topics/teaser.js
+++ b/src/topics/teaser.js
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ module.exports = function (Topics) {
 		var teaserPids = [];
 		var postData;
 		var tidToPost = {};
-		const teaserPost = this.teaserPost ? this.teaserPost : meta.config.teaserPost;
+		const teaserPost = (this && this.hasOwnProperty('teaserPost')) ? this.teaserPost : meta.config.teaserPost;
 
 		topics.forEach(function (topic) {
 			counts.push(topic && topic.postcount);