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produced by phoenix.com's "eye of the storm"

author: bu yu editor: wen hua

complaint email: [email protected]

core tips:

1. hong kong meicheng food group co., ltd. and guangzhou meicheng food co., ltd. are affiliated companies under the same control. after the former obtained the trademark in hong kong, it authorized it internally to guangzhou meicheng food co., ltd. for use, which is essentially an internal licensing behavior between affiliated companies.

2. according to xiao yang, three sheep has three after-sales services, but not all of them work. the stores that actually sell the goods often use various excuses to prevaricate consumers. even if you contact the customer service of three sheep and its live broadcast room, it is often difficult to get a satisfactory result.

3. it is important to distinguish between the identities of sellers and advertisers, which determines the extent of the compensation liability that internet celebrities and bloggers have to bear after selling counterfeit goods. if they are advertisers, their liability is relatively small, while if they are sellers, they must bear the responsibility of refunding one and compensating three times the amount of the consumer's money.

4. frequently getting involved in product quality scandals has gradually revealed its negative impact. crazy xiao yangge’s number of fans has dropped sharply in the past 30 days, and more than 2 million people have unfollowed him.

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since september, the internet has been constantly searching for "crazy xiao yang ge" and "three sheep". especially around the mid-autumn festival, the voices that threatened xiao yang ge's reputation almost reached a peak because of a mooncake.

this meicheng mooncake, which was promoted by xiao yangge as a high-end hong kong brand, was first revealed to be produced in the mainland and not sold in the hong kong market. later, netizens pointed out that the previous market price of a black truffle mooncake of this brand was only 59 yuan for three boxes, but in the live broadcast room of crazy xiao yangge, the price was as high as 169 yuan for three boxes.

for a time, public opinion was in an uproar and regulatory authorities also took action.

on september 17, the market supervision and administration bureau of hefei high-tech zone issued a notice stating that it has filed a case to investigate three sheep network technology co., ltd. for suspected "misleading consumers" and other behaviors during live broadcasts, and will handle it in accordance with the law based on the results of the investigation.

the next day, the guangzhou huadu district market supervision bureau reported the meicheng mooncake incident: the two companies involved had complete certificates and licenses, no violations were found, and the food sampling inspections were all qualified. as for the use and entrustment of the goods, hong kong meicheng food group authorized guangzhou meicheng food company to use its trademark, and the latter then entrusted guangzhou meicheng technology company to process the products. the words "hong kong meicheng mooncake" were used in the product packaging and publicity.

in addition, the guangzhou huadu district market supervision and administration bureau stated that it has sent letters to the market supervision department where the live broadcast platform is located and the market supervision department where the live broadcast sales company is registered, requesting assistance in the investigation, and the relevant situation needs to be further verified.

the problems with meicai kourou and maotai liquor have not been solved yet, and new problems have followed one after another. this has also caused a rift in public reputation, making crazy xiao yang ge, who has over 100 million fans, the center of controversy and subject to public questioning and scrutiny.

01 genuine or fake hong kong brand?

according to the announcement of guangzhou huadu district market supervision and administration bureau, hong kong meicheng food group co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as hong kong meicheng) has registered "meicheng", "hong kong meicheng mooncakes", "meisun" and other trademarks approved for mooncake products in hong kong, and authorized the use of the trademarks to guangzhou meicheng food co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as guangzhou meicheng), and guangzhou meicheng commissioned guangzhou meicheng food technology co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as meicheng technology) to process "hong kong meicheng mooncakes" products. there is a commissioned processing contract, and the product packaging materials are all provided by guangzhou meicheng food company. data shows that in the past 30 days, the sales of this brand of mooncakes on a certain platform have exceeded 50 million yuan.

phoenix.com's "eye of the storm" learned that li shuiqing, zhang shaozhu and zhang shaodeng connected hong kong meicheng and guangzhou meicheng.

hong kong meicheng was established on april 15, 2019, and its sole shareholder is li shuiqing. it is worth noting that li shuiqing had long served as the sole shareholder and legal representative of guangzhou meicheng until he withdrew in july 2024 and was succeeded by zhang shaozhu. after that, zhang shaodeng succeeded zhang shaozhu as the legal representative of guangzhou meicheng.

at the same time, li shuiqing still retains his status as the legal representative of meicheng technology and holds 58% of the company's shares, while zhang shaodeng holds the remaining 42% of the shares. the company was established in 2014.

in short, hong kong meicheng, guangzhou meicheng and meicheng technology are affiliated companies under the same control. after hong kong meicheng acquired the trademark locally, it authorized it to guangzhou meicheng for internal use, which is essentially an internal licensing behavior between affiliated companies.

in fact, many companies try to add an international touch to their products by registering macao and hong kong brands, thereby enhancing their brand image and market recognition. in the mainland market, macao and hong kong brands tend to attract more consumers who pursue high quality. this self-authorization behavior is undoubtedly exploiting loopholes in the rules.

cao lei, vice president of the live e-commerce working committee of the china general chamber of commerce and director of the e-commerce research center of the china internet network information center, pointed out that obtaining trademark authorization from a hong kong company shows that meicheng mooncakes has a certain legitimacy in brand registration. however, if it emphasizes its "hong kong brand" or "hong kong flavor" in live broadcast promotion, but is not actually produced in hong kong, this may constitute an infringement of consumers' right to know and is suspected of false advertising.

dong yizhi, a lawyer at shanghai zhengce law firm, said that if the anchor deliberately exaggerates or falsely promotes product information during the live broadcast and misleads consumers, it may constitute false marketing. according to the anti-unfair competition law of the people's republic of china and the advertising law of the people's republic of china, false advertising is a prohibited act. the market supervision and management department may impose administrative penalties on it in accordance with the law, including but not limited to warnings, fines, confiscation of illegal gains, revocation of business licenses, etc. the specific punishment will depend on the results of the investigation and the severity of the violation.

"if the anchor is indeed involved in false marketing, in addition to the legal liability he may face, he may also need to pay compensation in accordance with the consumer protection law of the people's republic of china," dong yizi added.

but in reality, it is not easy for consumers to protect their rights.

02 the three after-sales services are no longer effective

after learning that meicheng mooncakes were not sold in hong kong, hu fei quickly decided to apply for a refund. before the mid-autumn festival, hu fei spent 198 yuan to buy 6 boxes of meicheng brand star-level liuxin four joys flower rhyme linglong mooncakes in the three sheep online live broadcast room.

according to xiao yangge, three sheep has three after-sales defense lines to ensure that consumers can shop worry-free in the live broadcast room. he promised that if there are after-sales problems with the product, consumers can communicate with the store first, and then contact the live broadcast room if they are not satisfied, and finally complain to the three sheep network until the problem is satisfactorily resolved.

however, the actual situation is far from what xiao yangge advertised. stores often use various excuses to prevaricate consumers, and even if you contact the customer service of three sheep and its live broadcast room, it is often difficult to get a satisfactory result.

as he had not received the goods yet, hu fei directly contacted the customer service of the meichengli official flagship store to request a refund and intercept the logistics, but the other party only responded that "after-sales will handle it." however, the mooncakes were eventually delivered to the express delivery station at his doorstep.

he contacted customer service again, but was told that mooncakes are seasonal special foods and do not support 7-day unconditional returns and exchanges, so his refund request was rejected. when the store was unable to solve the problem, he tried to contact the second after-sales guarantee mentioned by xiao yangge - the customer service of the three sheep live broadcast room, but the other party only said that they would give feedback to the merchant and did not give a specific solution.

when there was no hope for a refund, hu fei discovered that the meichengli official flagship store had quietly removed all products from the shelves. when phoenix.com's "eye of the storm" asked its customer service as a consumer why the products were removed, the answer was "they are currently sold out. if you place an order, you may have to wait a few days for delivery."

hu fei's experience is not an isolated incident. last year, wang li also bought a bottle of moutai from xiao yangge's live broadcast room as a collection, but after seeing reports about the problems with the wine sold by xiao yangge, he decided to send his own wine for inspection.

the test results showed that "there was obvious deformation inside the bottle cap, which was inconsistent with the characteristics of the genuine product." however, when he took the test report to the store customer service, he was told that the product was correct. he then contacted the three sheep customer service, but was told that the appraisal results of the third-party appraisal agency were not authoritative and legally binding.

"i can't determine whether crazy brother yang knowingly sold counterfeit goods, but as a well-known anchor, his attitude in handling the problem and his sense of responsibility to consumers are indeed disappointing." chen li, who also bought the problematic moutai from three sheep, expressed the same dissatisfaction. he has sued three sheep, "to make three sheep bear the due responsibility."

03 if an internet celebrity blogger sells fake goods, does he need to pay three times the compensation?

this is not the first time that three sheep has been caught up in a public opinion storm due to product issues.

as early as march 15, 2023, cctv's 3·15 gala exposed the quality problems of the pork with preserved vegetables sold by the anchor "xiao yangge" under the three sheep team, who was accused of using "trough head meat". since then, consumers have reported that the maotai rabbit year purchased in the live broadcast room of the three sheep team has quality problems, and a third-party testing agency has identified that it does not meet the characteristics of genuine products. these problematic wines include "head-pulled wine" and "fake cover and fake spray" wine.

many consumers found it extremely difficult to seek compensation from crazy xiao yangge and the three sheep. from a legal perspective, the rationality of the compensation and whether the basis is sufficient have become the crux of the problem.

according to article 55 of the consumer protection law of the people's republic of china, if an operator provides goods or services with fraudulent behavior, it shall, at the request of the consumer, increase the compensation for the loss suffered by the consumer, and the amount of the increased compensation shall be three times the price of the goods purchased by the consumer or the cost of the service received. operators include manufacturers, sellers or service providers.

the key to the problem is whether crazy little yang ge and the three sheep can be attributed to the sellers.

according to the response of the hefei municipal market supervision bureau to the "mei cai kou rou" incident, three sheep is only the advertising party. li haiquan, a lawyer at shanghai shenyihe law firm, said that there are four types of advertising entities in live streaming: advertisers, advertising operators, advertising publishers and advertising spokespersons; corresponding to the actual sellers of goods, network platforms, mcn agencies, and anchors. this is equivalent to the mcn agency corresponding to the advertising publisher, and the anchor generally corresponds to the role of advertising spokesperson.

xiao yangge's behavior during the live broadcast seemed to have acknowledged that three sheep was an advertiser. during the live broadcast on september 7, some product columns in crazy xiao yangge's live broadcast room clearly stated that "the seller of this product is the store to which the shopping link belongs, not this live broadcast room."

but this seems to be very controversial.

according to article 12 of the provisions on several issues concerning the application of law in the trial of online consumer dispute cases (i) issued by the supreme people's court: if the legitimate rights and interests of consumers are damaged due to clicking to purchase goods in an online live broadcast room, and the operator of the live broadcast room cannot prove that it has marked that it is not the seller and marked the actual seller in a way that is sufficient for consumers to distinguish, the people's court should support the consumer's claim that the operator of the live broadcast room bears the responsibility of the seller of goods. if the operator of the live broadcast room can prove that it has fulfilled the marking obligations listed in the preceding paragraph, the people's court shall make a determination based on factors such as the transaction appearance, the agreement between the operator of the live broadcast room and the operator, the cooperation model with the operator, the transaction process, and consumer cognition.

in other words, if it is not clearly marked that they are not the actual seller, then the operator of the live broadcast room must also bear the responsibility of the seller, and even if it is clearly marked, it must be determined based on the specific circumstances. however, some lawyers believe that if it can be proved that the anchor has sales commissions, then he is also a seller.

zhuang shuai, founder of bailian consulting, told phoenix.com's "eye of the storm" that there is a fundamental difference between advertisers and live-streaming hosts. advertisers do not sell goods directly, nor do they receive commission income, so three sheep is essentially a seller and should be responsible for the products it recommends.

it is important to distinguish between the identities of sellers and advertisers, which also determines the scope of the compensation liability of internet celebrities.

normally, if they are advertisers, their liability is limited. lawyer dong yizhi also pointed out that if anchors or mcn agencies only act as advertising spokespersons or publishers, the liability they may bear when problems occur with the products is relatively small, mainly limited to the scope of liability stipulated in the advertising law. but if they act as sellers, then when problems occur with the products, they may need to bear more extensive responsibilities, including but not limited to product quality responsibilities, consumer rights protection responsibilities, etc.

but as far as the "mei cai kou rou" he sells is concerned, xiao yangge still has to bear the responsibility. xiao yangge claimed in the live broadcast that the mei cai kou rou uses "top-quality pork belly", but according to the cctv 315 gala report, the mei cai kou rou produced by this brand uses inferior trough head meat, and even the lymph nodes and glands are clearly visible. in the view of zhao zhanling, a lawyer at beijing jiawei law firm, this constitutes false advertising, that is, the content of the advertisement itself is problematic.

li haiquan said that according to article 140 of the food safety law, if advertising operators and publishers design, produce and publish false food advertisements that damage the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, they should bear joint and several liability with food producers and operators.

according to industry practice, when there is a problem with a product, the mcn agency will generally refund three times the price first. for example, the "fendi casa mooncake souvenirs" sold in the "jia ge pengyou" live broadcast room were suspected of being counterfeit because of brand association with the luxury brand "fendi" (including the fendi casa series), so the agency refunded three times the price first for consumers. jia ge pengyou also promised to refund three times the price for the meicheng mooncakes sold in the relevant live broadcast room. another live broadcaster simba also refunded three times the price for the "fake bird's nest" sold in the live broadcast room.

although there are still controversies, in a sense, by putting himself in the position of an advertiser or spokesperson, xiao yang has set a very bad precedent. if the industry follows suit, it may be more difficult for consumers to protect their rights when faced with problematic products.

04 can brother xiao yang continue to be “crazy”?

if it weren't for this sudden public opinion storm, in the public's view, the three sheep company was thriving with an unstoppable momentum, and every step was in line with the beat of success.

on the 21st of last month, the hong kong branch of three sheep opened, and tvb's general manager eric tsang personally took charge as the general manager of the hong kong branch. at the grand opening ceremony, well-known figures in the hong kong entertainment industry such as kenny bee, benny chan, and alan tam came to congratulate. and three sheep has opened several such branches in suzhou, hangzhou, and shenyang.

at the same time, the globalization strategy of three sheep is also progressing steadily. as early as april 2023, crazy little yang said in a live broadcast that he "wants to make money from foreigners." in january 2024, three sheep officially announced the start of its overseas journey, choosing singapore as the first stop, and then quickly entering indonesia. lu wenqing even revealed in the live broadcast that the us branch is also in preparation and is scheduled to officially open in los angeles in september this year.

in terms of sales performance, the performance of the three sheep is also impressive. according to media reports, in the first five months of 2024, its gross merchandise volume (gmv) increased by 97% year-on-year. in 2022, the company's gmv was 6 billion yuan, and by 2023, this figure had rapidly climbed to 16 billion yuan, achieving a 1.5-fold increase.

for the controversial products, three sheep failed to come up with effective after-sales measures, which disrupted the three sheep's originally smooth development rhythm and made this originally fast-running machine seem to have suddenly lost its core driving force - the trust of fans.

trust plays a vital role in live streaming sales by influencers. it is the cornerstone of connecting the anchor and the audience and building a long-term interactive relationship. when the audience trusts the anchor, they are more likely to continue to pay attention, participate in the interaction, and make purchasing decisions when necessary. once this trust is broken, the consequences can be devastating.

negative effects have already appeared. according to feigua data, the number of fans of crazy xiao yangge has dropped sharply by more than 2 million in the past 30 days. various jokes from netizens are endless: "three sheep don't cause trouble, are not afraid of trouble, and don't take customers seriously", "three sheep are pretty good, they don't cheat outsiders, they only cheat their family members".

it is undeniable that grassroots internet celebrity companies often face a series of new challenges and problems after experiencing initial rapid growth and reaching a certain scale. the internal hidden dangers that were once concealed by rapid growth are also exposed, such as the company's standardized operations, team building, etc.

take lu wenqing, a partner of three sheep, who was once praised by crazy brother yang as the big boss behind the scenes. after drinking, his response to simba in the live broadcast room was too emotional, and he even swore, so much so that netizens joked: "i thought it was zhuge liang, but it turned out to be lingling general xing daorong."

when the problem surfaced, it seemed that three sheep should slow down. and how much impact will this incident have on three sheep and its overseas strategy, and whether three sheep can regain its own rhythm and move quickly, perhaps has become the biggest suspense in many people's minds.

(hu fei and wang li are pseudonyms in this article)