news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

dong jingyi, a reporter from 21st century business herald, reports from shanghai

the mid-autumn festival has passed, but the mooncake incident in brother yang’s live broadcast room has not yet passed.

on september 18, the guangzhou huadu district market supervision and administration bureau issued a report on the situation of meicheng mooncakes, saying that all the test results were qualified. however, consumers were not convinced, believing that the key point of this matter was that xiao yangge was suspected of "false propaganda" and "misleading consumers", which has not yet been concluded.

at present, "hong kong meicheng mooncakes" have been removed from all major e-commerce platforms, and the douyin account of "crazy little yangge" has also been affected, with a serious loss of fans. data shows that the account has lost 2.18 million fans in the past 30 days.

xiao yangge is just a microcosm of the current situation of top anchors. for example, simba was fined and banned for selling fake bird's nests, douyin's "beauty king" luo wangyu announced his retirement from the internet after being "cracked down on" for the "olive" incident, and the prune juice promoted by dongfang zhenxuan and xiao yangge was named by the customs and laxative ingredients were detected... with super high popularity, the product quality and supply problems of top anchors are becoming more and more prominent.

in particular, the recent sales of counterfeit goods have brought the trust between consumers and live streamers to the forefront. these issues not only harm the rights and interests of consumers, but also affect the reputation of live streamers and the healthy development of the industry.

"some live broadcasts turn 'sales floors' into 'show floors', relying too much on exaggerated, eye-catching marketing methods rather than the quality or cost-effectiveness of the products themselves to attract consumers. the overall marketing environment needs to be further guided in a positive direction." cheng nian, a lawyer at zhejiang kenting (beijing) law firm, told the 21st century business herald reporter.

it is generally believed in the industry that at a time when live streaming has become an important sales channel, the anchor itself, as a link in the product sales chain, needs to strengthen its supply chain management capabilities, and its publicity and promotional activities also need to be regulated.

where's the mooncake?

the current disturbance originated from the meicheng mooncakes in the live broadcast room.

in the live broadcast, xiao yang claimed that this mooncake is a high-end brand in hong kong, containing black truffles and prepared by a michelin master. he also said in the live broadcast that the price of this mooncake offline in hong kong is as high as 700 yuan per box, while the price in his live broadcast room is more affordable.

however, subsequent investigations revealed that the mooncakes were not produced in hong kong, but in guangzhou and foshan. this discovery sparked widespread controversy, with many consumers and netizens questioning whether xiao yangge's live broadcast was a false advertising campaign. some netizens said that they did not find any sales information for meicheng mooncakes on hong kong's mainstream online shopping platforms, and that meicheng mooncakes did not have any physical stores in hong kong.

tianyancha information shows that hong kong meicheng food group co., ltd. was established in 2019 and is registered in the hong kong special administrative region. however, the brand operator is guangzhou meicheng food co., ltd., which was established in 2019 and is located in guangzhou, guangdong province. the manufacturer is guangzhou meicheng food technology co., ltd., which was established in 2014.

the operator of meicheng mooncakes said that the brand is registered in hong kong and has a trademark registration certificate, and the production bases are located in guangzhou and foshan. the relevant person in charge of the human resources department of guangzhou meicheng food technology co., ltd. told the media that the company registered the brand in hong kong and produced mooncakes in the mainland, and did not think there was anything wrong with it. "there is no law that stipulates that hong kong brands cannot be produced in the mainland."

despite this, consumers are skeptical about the brand's popularity and sales in hong kong. when a consumer tried to return the product, they were rejected. meicheng mooncakes customer service responded that since mooncakes are seasonal special foods, they do not support 7-day unconditional return and exchange services. this response further exacerbated consumer dissatisfaction.

on september 14, the guangzhou huadu district market supervision and administration bureau said that it had noticed the online discussion about meicheng mooncakes and that the regulatory authorities had intervened in the investigation. on september 17, the hefei high-tech zone market supervision and administration bureau issued a situation report stating that it had filed a case against three sheep network technology co., ltd. for suspected "misleading consumers" during live broadcasts, and would handle the case in accordance with the law based on the results of the investigation.

under pressure from public opinion, the three sheep live broadcast room has removed meicheng mooncakes from its shelves and closed the comment function. at the same time, meicheng mooncakes' official stores on tmall, jd.com, douyin and other platforms have also removed all mooncake products, with customer service saying "mooncakes are out of stock."

on september 18, the guangzhou huadu district market supervision and administration bureau issued a notice stating that the hong kong meicheng food group has registered trademarks such as "meicheng", "hong kong meicheng mooncakes" and "meisun" in hong kong, which are approved for use on mooncake products. it has authorized the trademarks to guangzhou meicheng food company for use. guangzhou meicheng food company can provide the registration information of the hong kong meicheng food group and relevant trademark authorization documents and other materials.

guangzhou meicheng food company commissioned guangzhou meicheng technology company to process the "hong kong meicheng mooncakes" products. there is a commissioned processing contract. the product packaging materials are all provided by guangzhou meicheng food company. the words "hong kong meicheng mooncakes" are used on the outer packaging and text promotion of the relevant mooncake products.

recently, supervisory personnel from the provincial market supervision bureau and the guangzhou municipal bureau and huadu district bureau conducted on-site inspections of guangzhou meicheng technology co., ltd. three times, and no prominent food safety hazards have been found; the huadu district bureau inspected 24 mooncake-related companies and sampled 23 batches of mooncakes, with a pass rate of 100%.

however, consumers do not think this is the end, and the suspicion of being deceived still exists. cheng nian told the reporter of 21st century business herald that the product is indeed a hong kong brand product, but the hong kong brand does not mean it is produced in hong kong, nor does it mean it is sold and operated in hong kong. when promoting the mooncake product, xiao yangge's live broadcast room only emphasized the "hong kong brand" but did not explain the actual place of origin. at the same time, the product's sales in hong kong were deliberately exaggerated in the promotion. the actual effect of the promotion made consumers mistakenly believe that the mooncake was produced in hong kong.

"according to article 28 of the advertising law, any information about a product's origin, producer, etc. that does not match the actual situation and has a substantial impact on purchasing behavior is considered false advertising. therefore, the promotional activities in xiao yangge's live broadcast constitute false advertising and are suspected of misleading and deceiving consumers," cheng nian told reporters.

the trust crisis of big anchors

the mooncake incident is just one of the recent public opinion storms surrounding xiao yangge. previously, the dispute between simba and xiao yangge was frequently on the hot search. the two anchors had price differences when selling the same brand of hairy crabs. simba accused xiao yangge's team of reporting their low-price sales behavior, and then it was revealed that xiao yangge's team had problems in quality inspection, after-sales service, and compensation attitude.

specifically, during this year's 315 consumer rights day, three sheep received attention for promoting and selling meicai kourou products that were suspected of using unprocessed trough meat. after the incident was exposed, three sheep was not punished by relevant departments because it was only an advertiser in this incident.

subsequently, the three sheep were involved in the controversy over the sale of fake moutai liquor. according to reports, some consumers purchased moutai liquor in the live broadcast room of "crazy brother yang" and found problems after being tested by a third-party authentication agency. some of the bottles were pulled too far, and some had fake bottle caps and fake inkjet codes.

the three sheep questioned the authority and legal effectiveness of the third-party appraisal agency, but subsequently kweichow moutai sales co., ltd. issued a statement verifying the situation, confirming that it was a counterfeit product.

on september 9, professional counterfeiter wang hai revealed in a video that the "xian duo yu" brand beef rolls promoted by three sheep during live streaming were not original cuts, but synthetic spliced ​​meat. the qingshan district market supervision and administration bureau of wuhan fined "xian duo yu" company 500,000 yuan, but the qingshan district market supervision bureau of wuhan said it was unclear whether three sheep was punished.

data shows that the douyin account of "crazy little brother yang" has lost a lot of fans, with 2.18 million fans lost in the past 30 days. this "meicheng mooncake incident", coupled with the previous "hairy crab incident", has greatly affected the brand image of "crazy little brother yang".

this is also the common dilemma faced by top anchors. market competition is becoming increasingly fierce, and consumers' expectations for product quality are also rising. at the same time, society's requirements for merchants' integrity are also getting higher and higher. secondly, with the rapid development of the e-commerce live broadcast industry, some potential problems in this industry have begun to surface, such as product quality control and after-sales service.

"in the process of pursuing sales, some anchors have neglected the guarantee of product quality and after-sales service. in order to attract traffic and earn commissions, some anchors do not hesitate to exaggerate the effects of products, conceal product defects, and even sell counterfeit and shoddy products, causing consumers to encounter quality problems or inadequate after-sales service after purchase." jiang han, a senior researcher at pangu think tank, told the 21st century business herald reporter.

even though live streaming e-commerce has passed the stage of wild growth, problems such as inadequate supervision and lack of responsibility of anchors still need to be solved. after experiencing various scandals involving well-known anchors, consumers' trust in online celebrity anchors and live streaming platforms has decreased, thus exacerbating the trust crisis.

cheng nian told reporters that although many anchors have sufficiently mature teams and capabilities in live streaming and short videos, they lack experience in supply chain management (such as product selection and background checks) and lack legal awareness of advertising compliance and consumer rights protection.

at present, many companies in the live broadcast industry have only been in business for three or four years and are lacking in corporate governance, compliance systems, employee training, etc. industry analysts believe that the recent incident is also a wake-up call, that is, live broadcast e-commerce companies must establish a complete product selection and review process and strictly control the authenticity, legality and quality of products.

even if there are mistakes, the anchor should publicly apologize to the affected consumers, take the initiative to assume the corresponding legal responsibilities, and fulfill the obligation to compensate, so as to rebuild the trust of consumers. for example, jiaogepengyou immediately took the measure of "stopping sales and refunding three times the amount" in response to the suspected counterfeiting of "fendi casa mooncakes".

"as the market matures, consumers will be more inclined to choose anchors who can provide high-quality products and services." jiang han told reporters that the live broadcast ecosystem requires the joint efforts of multiple parties. anchors need to improve the transparency of products and disclose quality inspection and certification information; platforms should establish a regulatory mechanism and set up special complaint channels; and regulatory authorities need to formulate strict standards and strengthen market regulation.