after five critical hits, can "crazy little brother yang" still make a comeback?
2024-09-16
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recently, the former top influencer "crazy little yang" (zhang qingyang) has faced many troubles. on the one hand, due to the controversy between him and another top influencer "simba" over his promotion, "simba" had to compensate customers for 100 million yuan on behalf of three sheep, which caused controversy; on the other hand, "crazy little yang"'s company three sheep is facing many other troubles, such as: a fine of 500,000 yuan for fake beef rolls, employee momo was involved in the case, wuliangye liquor was cancelled, the hong kong mooncakes he promoted were revealed to have "no stores in hong kong", and the account lost more than one million followers in one month... in the face of this series of disputes, how should the corporate brand reputation be maintained? how should the former top influencer get out of the predicament?
1."hong kong mooncake" has no stores in hong kong
the store responded: no false advertising
on september 12, the topic #hong kong mooncakes with monthly sales of 50 million yuan are not available in hong kong# became a hot search. according to media reports, recently, "crazy little yang ge" and its major anchors' live broadcast rooms have been selling a brand of mooncakes called "hong kong meicheng". the mooncakes have different specifications, such as 3 boxes for 99 yuan and 3 boxes for 169 yuan. a reporter checked a third-party data platform and found that the sales of the brand on a short video platform in the past 30 days have exceeded 50 million yuan. in the comments of the relevant videos, many netizens with hong kong ips left messages saying that they had never heard of "hong kong meicheng", and some hong kong netizens said that they had pointed this out in the live broadcast room, but were banned.
on september 13, meicheng mooncakes were still sold on the three sheep authorized account. screenshot of the live broadcast
upstream news (reporting mailbox [email protected]) reporters checked the third-party data platform feigua data and found that in the past month, the sales of the meichengli brand on a short video platform were about 75 million to 100 million yuan, of which nearly half of the sales came from the brand's own business. in terms of influencers bringing goods, the top five sales of meicheng mooncakes in the past 30 days are all three sheep anchor accounts, namely "zeng zhiwei", "zui ge", "three sheep network", "qiao mei" and "crazy xiao yang ge". as public opinion fermented, the account of the store involved, "meichengli official flagship store", deleted (or hid) more than 200 video works overnight, and turned on the anti-disturbance protection function, so that non-friends could not comment.
sales volume of meicheng mooncakes on a short video platform. internet image
a reporter from upstream news saw on the tianyancha app that the operator of the "hong kong meicheng" mooncake brand is guangzhou meicheng food co., ltd., which is affiliated to the hong kong meicheng food group. tianyancha shows that the company's registered place is indeed in hong kong, but no entry is found when searching for "meicheng mooncake" on hktvmall, hong kong's largest online shopping platform.
on september 13, a reporter from upstream news contacted guangzhou meicheng food co., ltd., but no one answered the phone. several agents said that the company has no stores in hong kong and its production base is basically in guangzhou and foshan.
a reporter from upstream news asked the customer service of the official flagship store of meichengli, a short video platform, and they said that the store only asked the experts of three sheep to help promote the products, and they were not sure about other things. regarding the fact that xiao yangge introduced in the video that meicheng mooncakes are sold in hong kong, the customer service did not respond positively, but said that there are national agents and distributors stationed in large offline supermarkets, and that they are sold through both online and offline channels, and that there is no false advertising.
the official account of the meichengli flagship store on a short video platform has set up mutual comments. screenshot from the internet
fu jian, a well-known criminal defense lawyer and director of henan zejin law firm, believes that when consumers buy goods, they often make purchasing decisions based on the introduction and promotion of the live broadcast host. if the promotional content is untrue, it will mislead consumers. for example, the "hong kong meicheng mooncakes" introduced by the anchor will make consumers believe that the mooncakes have some connection with hong kong, but in fact the mooncake manufacturer and sales venue have nothing to do with hong kong. the promotion does not match the actual situation and is somewhat misleading.
according to the relevant provisions of the consumer protection law of the people's republic of china, if consumers find that the promotional content of meicheng mooncakes does not match the actual situation after purchasing them, they have the right to request a refund. as the seller, the three sheep group has the obligation to verify the goods it sells to ensure the authenticity of its promotional content. if the promotional content does not match the actual situation, the seller needs to bear the corresponding responsibility.
2.fake original cut beef rolls
counterfeiters: more than 40,000 people have been deceived
this is not the first time that "crazy little brother yang" has caused controversy due to similar issues. on september 9, professional counterfeiter wang hai released a video saying that the fake "xian duo yu" beef rolls promoted by "crazy little brother yang" had been fined 500,000 yuan, and 42,000 consumers were deceived. according to the "refund one ten times" policy, 42 million yuan in compensation was required to be paid to consumers.
according to the "administrative penalty decision" made by the wuhan qingshan district market supervision and administration bureau on july 16, 2024, the "xian duo yu" beef rolls sold by "crazy brother yang" for 89.9 yuan per 4-jin package were determined to be not original cut beef.
on november 24, 2023, "xian duo yu" signed an online promotion service contract with three sheep company, allowing three sheep company's anchor "crazy little yang" (zhang qingyang) to promote "xian duo yu australian grain-fed beef roll 4 jin" from november 25, 2023 to february 20, 2024, with a unit price of 89.9 yuan. during the live broadcast, "crazy little yang" claimed that the product was original cut meat, not conditioned meat, and used the words "no synthesis, no water injection, no splicing, no pickling, and zero additives".
at the same time, the product details page of the three sheep company's account on a short video platform shows that the "australian grain-fed beef roll" is "original cut meat" and also uses the words "no synthesis, no water injection, no splicing, no pickling, zero additives". the above sales volume totaled 42,811 orders, with a total sales amount of 3,871,607.18 yuan.
the media asked the qingshan district market supervision and administration bureau of wuhan about this matter. the staff of the bureau said that the 500,000 yuan fine on "xian duo yu" was true. as for whether three sheep company was punished, the staff said that three sheep company was not in the jurisdiction and had no power to punish, and they were not clear about the punishment. three sheep is an enterprise in hefei, anhui. the staff of the local market supervision bureau of three sheep company said that it was not clear whether three sheep company was punished for the fake original cut beef rolls of "xian duo yu".
3.the wuliangye sold was automatically returned
lawyer: anchors should ensure that product information is true
since september 8, many consumers have posted updates saying that the wuliangye and jiannanchun liquors they bought in the live broadcast room of "crazy xiao yangge" were automatically refunded, and the reason for the notification was that the platform system detected and determined that the order was suspected of violating the platform rules. a media reporter used the order number of the refunded order to contact xiao yangge and the customer service of the relevant store, and they all said that it was the platform's behavior and they did not have the authority to refund.
according to a screenshot of the e-commerce compass, the transaction amount of this live broadcast on september 7 reached 153 million yuan. the products with the highest sales were moutai, wuliangye, jiannanchun and other liquors, and the transaction amount doubled compared to usual days.
regarding the issue of "automatic order cancellation", the customer service of the "crazy little yang brother" live broadcast room and the customer service of wuliangye's store responded to consumers that order cancellation is a platform behavior and cannot be compensated. the platform customer service responded to the media reporter, saying: "it may be that the platform found that there is an abnormality in the product. in order to protect your rights, the platform will help you cancel the order." the platform did not respond to the media.
regarding the order cancellation behavior, fu jian, director of henan zejin law firm, believes that based on the principles of honesty and trustworthiness and the relevant provisions of the consumer protection law, whether it is the platform or the anchor, when canceling the order for products that consumers have successfully ordered, they must at least fulfill the obligation to inform in advance and provide sufficient reasons, otherwise they will be suspected of infringing on consumers' right to know and right to fair trade.
lawyer fu jian said: "if the platform system automatically returns an order by mistake, the platform should bear the responsibility for the technical error and make reasonable compensation to the affected consumers. for the sales store, returning an order is a unilateral breach of contract. if the return is related to product quality issues, the sales store must assume the responsibility for product quality assurance and compensate the consumer. as a live broadcast anchor, xiao yangge has the responsibility to ensure that the product information he promotes is true and accurate and does not mislead consumers. if consumers are harmed due to false promotional information, xiao yangge needs to bear the corresponding promotional responsibility."
4. employeesarrested for "extortion"
the person involved is a live streamer with millions of fans
on september 4, a short video platform anchor named "ximba" broke the news that the co-founders of three sheep, lu wenqing and zhang qingyang, had teamed up to "send a girl in jail." some netizens said that the arrested girl was momo, an anchor under the three sheep company, and the target of "extortion" was "crazy little brother yang." this incident has attracted great attention from netizens.
on september 8, an insider revealed that momo was indeed taken away by (local police) in shanghai in december last year and is now detained in a local detention center. as an online celebrity anchor, momo's short video platform account "three sheep momo" has 5 million followers. it has been suspended since the end of last year and has not been updated for 9 months. momo's family told the media that momo's current case has not yet been heard, "the case has been brought to court." regarding the case of "extortion of xiao yangge", the family said they were not clear.
5. simbasaid to pay 100 million yuan for the three sheep
lawyer: this move is legal but requires caution
"crazy little brother yang" and "ximba" are big anchors selling goods on two different platforms. they did not have much intersection originally, but recently the two sides suddenly fell out. "ximba" continuously bombarded three sheep online, which continued to attract attention.
the origin of the dispute between "simba" and three sheep is that "simba" and "crazy little yang" recently sold the same brand of hairy crabs at different prices. "simba" said in the live broadcast that he was reported by the "crazy little yang" team when he was selling hairy crabs. he accused the "crazy little yang" team of having problems in quality inspection, after-sales service, and compensation attitude. lu wenqing, co-founder of three sheep, said that "simba" would do anything to get traffic. but then his personal account on a short video platform was set to a private account, and the content posted was not visible.
netizens sent out the "compensation" given by "simba". beijing business daily
on the evening of september 4, while questioning the business model of three sheep, "ximba" said that he would pay 100 million yuan to compensate consumers for the controversial products sold by three sheep, such as pork with preserved vegetables, hair dryers, and maotai liquor. this incident immediately became a hot topic.
"simba" once announced that he would start a live broadcast at 8 pm on september 11 to pay 100 million yuan and answer questions from netizens, but some netizens found that the "simba" account on a short video platform showed that the live broadcast function had been banned. this matter once again rushed to the hot search. although the live broadcast room was blocked, some media reported that some netizens said that "simba" "compensated" three sheep consumers in the name of industry condolence money. many netizens posted screenshots of conversations with xinxuan customer service in the comment area of the latest video on their account. the screenshots show that when consumers sent keywords such as "mei cai kou rou" and "moutai", xinxuan customer service replied that they would provide "industry condolence money." the reporter confirmed the news from the customer service of "simba 818 exclusive store".
"ximba" live broadcast room was blocked. changjiang cloud
on the evening of the 11th, many netizens with ip addresses in shandong, guangdong, henan and other places posted screenshots in the comment section of the video of the "ximba" account, saying that they had received the relevant funds. the transaction time was after 9 o'clock that night. the transaction amount was 9,000 yuan. the payee was guangzhou xinyu network information co., ltd., which is a member of the xinxuan group.
a media reporter contacted three sheep network technology co., ltd. regarding this matter, but received no response.
is it legal for simba to pay 100 million yuan to consumers on behalf of three sheep? liu ming, executive director of hunan ruibang law firm, said that in general, if simba voluntarily pays and is able to fulfill his promise, the law does not prohibit it, so it is legal.
li min, a special researcher at the e-commerce research center of the china internet network information center and a senior partner at shanghai han sheng law firm, said that simba's move can be seen as a public relations strategy to enhance its own commercial interests. on the surface, it is to protect the rights of consumers, but there are still legal issues that need to be handled with caution. "simba's arrangement of 100 million yuan to compensate the three sheep consumers may violate the relevant provisions of the anti-unfair competition law of the people's republic of china and constitute unfair competition if it damages the business reputation of competitors or attracts consumers through unfair means."
media: "crazy little yang" owes everyone an explanation
according to the "public opinion analysis report on consumer rights protection in live streaming sales (2023)", the consumer rights protection proportion of "crazy xiao yang ge" in live streaming sales reached as high as 31.3%, ranking second. problems such as false propaganda, product quality and uncivilized sales were prominent, and the return and exchange ratio was higher than the industry average.
after the live streaming scandal, a reporter from upstream news searched feigua data and found that as of press time, "crazy xiao yang ge" had lost more than 1.3 million fans in 30 days. previously, the topic #xiao yang ge has lost more than one million fans# had already become a hot search. three sheep did not respond positively to the loss of fans. on the afternoon of september 13, a reporter from upstream news called hefei three sheep network co., ltd., and after learning the reporter's purpose, the other party hung up the phone directly.
regarding the dispute between three sheep and simba, fu jian, director of henan zejin law firm, believes that this dispute may have a certain negative impact on three sheep. this incident may affect the image and reputation of three sheep, and reduce its trust in consumers; secondly, the incident may have a certain impact on three sheep's sales and transactions, because consumers may question and distrust three sheep's products and services. in addition, the incident may also trigger some legal disputes and controversies, which require three sheep to actively deal with.
xin hunan commented that behind the prosperity of the internet celebrity economy, the word "integrity" is of great importance. integrity is the foundation of business and the lifeline of the live streaming industry. the use of condiments to impersonate original cuts of beef undoubtedly damages the rights and trust of consumers. no matter what difficulties or reasons xiao yangge has, he cannot evade the responsibilities he needs to bear. as a public figure with many fans, his every word and deed has an influence on society that cannot be ignored. whether xiao yangge will take quick and sincere measures to compensate consumers for their losses and whether he can regain the trust of those who have quit fans through practical actions is still unknown. but first of all, a sincere apology and explanation are indispensable.
internet analyst mr. zhang said: "live streaming can bring the most direct conversion. the live streaming e-commerce industry has developed from wild growth to stricter supervision. sustainability and low-price strategies, regulatory adaptability, profit compression and cost increase issues have become increasingly prominent. the risks and challenges faced by top anchors are also increasing."
zhan junhao, a well-known crisis public relations expert, said that from a professional perspective, the three sheep group should have a unified external voice. inconsistent or random responses from everyone within the group will not only be detrimental to the resolution of the incident, but will escalate the crisis. for example, after simba raised questions, the challenging public response of lu wenqing, co-founder of three sheep network, made the situation worse.
zhan junhao believes that the three sheep group should let xiao yangge respond alone, draw all the firepower to one live broadcast room, minimize the losses of the many live broadcast rooms under the three sheep group, and publicly promise to compensate consumers who purchased trough head meat (refund one and compensate three). please ask "ximba", the media and relevant departments to supervise until all consumers are satisfied, and give a specific compensation time range, and announce the compensation progress in real time to prevent the triggering of secondary public opinion.
upstream news reporters yang bo and tang hao reported based on beijing business daily, zhengxing news, jimu news, jiupai finance, xiaoxiang morning news, dahe daily and other comprehensive reports.
