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frequent product complaints make it difficult to prove the title of "top seller of mid-to-high-end laundry detergent beads"

did the fruit and vegetable garden endorsed by gu ailing fail?

　　consumer daily news(reporter lu yue□wang ziqian) on august 30, an announcement titled "sorry, we won't do it anymore" released by the ecological home cleaning brand vegetable and fruit garden on the xiaohongshu platform attracted widespread attention from consumers.

the picture shows the announcement issued by the fruit and vegetable garden

　　laundry detergent beads "taken off shelves" notice draws consumer attention

the reporter saw that the announcement claimed that "the company decided to remove the laundry detergent beads from the shelves", but what was puzzling was that a product link for "the same queen rose laundry detergent beads as gu ailing" was attached in the lower left corner of the note, and a trial pack of 6 beads for 9.9 yuan was launched.

many netizens and consumers were puzzled by fruit and vegetable garden's "contradictory" approach: "are all laundry detergent beads no longer for sale or are only some removed from the shelves?" "is it advertising hype or has the brand reduced its product categories?"

the reporter saw that in the comments below the announcement, the official response was "all sold" and "new products are given to fans to try first, and if they are useful, they can buy the full version." this answer made many consumers question, "since the laundry beads are still on sale, why do they have to go to great lengths to create a false impression of 'not making products'? is the 'delisting' announcement on xiaohongshu just a marketing advertisement?" on the other hand, some consumers bluntly said, "the price of 9.9 yuan for 6 trial packs is too expensive and unacceptable."

　　the expression "national and network-wide mid-to-high-end" is questioned

it is reported that shuguoyuan’s main technological product is laundry detergent beads, positioning itself as a high-end ecological household cleaning brand.

the reporter noticed that this year, shuguoyuan has been advertising on e-commerce platforms and in a large number of offline building elevators, claiming that its products are "the top 1 in sales of mid-to-high-end laundry detergent beads in the country". however, as a new brand that has "emerged" in recent years, this honor and sales volume description have also aroused doubts from a large number of consumers. shuguoyuan did not give a clear definition standard and statistical basis for the definition of "mid-to-high-end". at the same time, the advertisement also noted that "the data comes from frost & sullivan's desk research and industry interviews", but the brand did not give a clear explanation on how to ensure the accuracy and authority of the research data and interview results.

in this regard, dai jiapeng, a lawyer at zhongwen law firm, said, "the enforcement guidelines for absolute terms in advertisements (hereinafter referred to as the guidelines) clearly states that advertisements shall not use terms such as 'national level', 'highest level', 'best', or other terms with the same or similar meanings." however, article 6 of the guidelines stipulates that, under the conditions of specific time, region, etc., the provisions of the advertising law on absolute terms shall not apply to the expression of objective conditions of temporal and spatial order or the promotion of factual information such as product sales volume, sales, and market share. if the use of absolute terms in advertisements falls under the circumstances stipulated in article 6 of these guidelines, but the advertiser cannot prove its authenticity, it shall be investigated and dealt with in accordance with the relevant provisions of the advertising law."

however, in shuguoyuan’s statement that it is “the no. 1 sales volume of mid-to-high-end laundry detergent beads in the whole country and the entire network”, there is obviously a lack of accurate and strong evidence for the circumstances and qualifications such as “mid-to-high-end”.

　　negative reviews were deleted, complaints increased, and the brand's origin became unclear

in addition to the problem of advertising terminology, the reporter saw many complaints about the quality of vegetable and fruit garden products on platforms such as xiaohongshu and heimao complaints.

some consumers complained that "the laundry beads not only provide a terrible user experience, but the merchant also blatantly deleted the comments online after giving a bad review." some consumers also said that the net content of the laundry detergent was obviously not up to standard, and the customer service did not resolve the issue after explaining the situation to them. another consumer reported that he bought laundry detergent at the fruit and vegetable garden douyin official flagship store, but his clothes changed color after use. "how can people continue to use such products with confidence in the future?" in addition, some consumers pointed out that there are fake products such as fruit and vegetable garden's dishwashing liquid and toilet cleaner.

pictured is a consumer complaint about issues at the fruit and vegetable garden

the reporter also noticed that some media reported that "sukgarden originated in the uk, and its chinese name is 'shuguoyuan', which was originally affiliated with the uk ecological research center." the reporter saw a pattern similar to the british flag in a prominent position on the product packaging. in response, shuguoyuan said: "the brand has no connection with sukgarden in the uk. shuguoyuan is registered and produced in china. the product design, research and development, production, and sales are all completed in china. only some fragrance technologies are introduced from switzerland."

the picture shows the reply from the customer service of fruit and vegetable garden

on september 9, the reporter had reported issues such as the absolute terms used in the brand's advertisements, doubts about product quality, and whether it was an imported brand to the relevant person in charge, but as of press time, the other party had not responded.

what are the standards and statistical basis for the definition of "mid- to high-end" in fruit and vegetable garden? how to ensure the accuracy and authority of survey data and interview results? why are product quality and prices always questioned despite the surge in sales? this newspaper will continue to pay attention to this.