Liangshan 500,000 Jin apples unsalable crying little girl？ Reporter’s investigation： fake!
Unveiling e-commerce "sad marketing" routine
purpose Give priority to selling poor and miserable, "arouse sympathy" and improve sales effect.
picture Most of them are pictures of old people and children crying, or rendering harsh natural conditions. Most of the pictures are posed, previous or published online.
characters Falsification of data and facts; The language is sensational, describing misery, and labeling it as "helping agriculture" and "poverty"; Call on caring people to "help them"
case "Linyi apples are unsalable"; "100 million Jin of onions in Daliangshan are unsalable, and 9 cents a catty has not been bought"; "50,000 Jin of sugar orange 2 yuan can’t be sold"; "Slow-moving grandfather", a portrait of an uncle is widely used by merchants to sell "slow-moving fruit" … …
"Seeing the snow closing the mountain, 500,000 Jin of apples can’t be harvested. Please lend a helping hand … …” Recently, a post about apples in Yanyuan County of Liangshan attracted attention on the Internet.
In response to this matter, the Yanyuan County Government of Liangshan Prefecture urgently issued a statement saying that the content of the post was seriously untrue.
In the past few days, Chengdu Business Daily reporters went deep into Yanyuan County to investigate and interview, and found that behind the "sad marketing" of such e-commerce companies, it was actually a full routine … …
Event background
Online posts:
"Liangshan snow closes the mountain,
500,000 Jin of apples can’t be harvested? "
This article is called "sad! Sichuan Daliangshan saw that the snow closed the mountain, and 500,000 Jin of crisp, sweet and ugly apples could not be harvested. Please help the elderly and children tide over this difficulty! ",distributed dozens of photos, most of them are photos of old people and children, and the text is very tragic, describing Yanyuan apples as" ugly apples ". According to the content, because of frequent natural disasters and inconvenient transportation, it is difficult for apples to be shipped out of the mountains for sale, and the purchase price is pressed to two or three cents a catty. "The villagers are also helpless. They have insufficient conditions. The sooner they pick it, the better they can sell it, and they can only let the acquirer take it away at a low price. We can’t bear to tell them that the original ecological apples outside the mountain can often sell for more than ten yuan a catty. "
The post also mentions a fifth-grade girl who has 30,000 Jin of apples for sale at home, and the text is accompanied by a photo of the little girl crying. According to the post, the cold and frosty weather is coming, and many times it is necessary to close mountains and roads for safety, which also brings great difficulties to the picking work. The post appealed, "Please buy with 100% confidence! This is responsible for your love and the maintenance of the reputation of fruit farmers in this mountain! "
Government statement:
The content of the post is seriously untrue.
Improper marketing of merchants playing "sad card"
In response to this matter, on October 12, the People’s Government of Yanyuan County, Liangshan Prefecture issued a statement on improper marketing methods. According to the statement, the false post spread "virally" on online platforms such as WeChat WeChat official account, Today Headline and friends circle, which seriously misrepresented Daliangshan, Yanyuan County and Yanyuan Apple.
The statement of Yanyuan County People’s Government said: The pictures intercepted in the false posts are online pictures, which are falsely pieced together, deliberately exaggerating the descriptions of a few broken houses, muddy roads and unsanitary people in Daliangshan and Yanyuan counties in their early years, which is seriously inconsistent with the actual situation in Daliangshan and Yanyuan counties, and is a deliberate attempt to create a sad picture and maliciously guide consumers.
According to the statement, after investigation, this WeChat official account is registered by a Guangdong science and technology company, which mainly sells agricultural special products in poor and backward areas of the country, and the sales methods are mainly poor and miserable. This unfair marketing method of merchants playing "sad card" to seek benefits has caused serious negative impact on the overall image of Daliangshan and Yanyuan Apple.
Yanyuan County will resolutely correct and crack down on such improper marketing behaviors such as "sad marketing" according to law. It is hoped that the network platforms and businesses involved will take the initiative to quickly and timely eliminate the negative impact and maintain the good image of Daliangshan, Yanyuan County and Yanyuan Apple.
False revelation
1. "The purchase price is two and a half cents a catty?"
Truth: This year, most of them exceeded 2 yuan by a catty, and the price was several corners higher than in previous years.
"A few days ago, there was indeed a snow in Yanyuan County, but there was no road closure, and there was no apple that could not be shipped. The net post also said that the purchase price of Yanyuan Apple is two or three cents a catty, which is completely untrue. " Song Shuping, deputy director of the Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau of Yanyuan County, told reporters that in the past ten years, Yanyuan apples have never sold such a low price, and the price per catty is basically more than one yuan.
In the past few days, Chengdu Business Daily reporters visited several apple producing areas such as Shuanghe Township, Weicheng Town and Ganhai Township. Dozens of farmers and fruit merchants interviewed all said that Yanyuan apples sold well this year and the supply was more sought after. On the morning of October 17th, in the apple field of Peng Xianhua, a group of villagers in Yangliuqiao Village, Shuanghe Township, a foreign fruit merchant was buying his apples. "This batch of apples sells a catty of 2.6 yuan, and my family has 70,000 kilograms, and the gross income is about 200,000 yuan." Peng Xianhua said with a smile that in recent years, his apples have been bought by fruit merchants at home, and they are not worried about selling. Wu Weicheng, an apple buyer from Fujian, said that the production of apples in the north was reduced this year, and he went to Yanyuan County to buy apples a month ago, but the supply was tight, and the purchase price was nearly one catty in 3 yuan.
Li Dehai, the supervisor of Shuangliu Apple Cooperative in Yanyuan County, said that there are 120 fruit farmers in the cooperative, with a total output of about 5,000 tons this year. Apples were ordered by fruit merchants before they were ripe. At present, the harvest has reached 70%, and the prices are basically above 2 yuan, which is a few cents higher than last year.
2. "The little girl has 30,000 Jin of apples for sale?"
Truth: There are no apples at the little girl’s house, and the photos are grafted in the post.
"According to our investigation, this post used three times of data, all of which have not been verified." Yang Yun, the chief of the comprehensive law enforcement team of the Food and Drug Administration of Yanyuan County, introduced that, first of all, the post mentioned that 500,000 Jin of Yanyuan apples were unsalable, but there was no unsalable situation at all, misleading consumers. Secondly, the words 100% are used in the post, which is the limit word that is not allowed to be used in the Advertising Law. In addition, the article claims that the little girl has 30,000 Jin of apples for sale, which is also a fabrication.
Chengdu Business Daily reporter found that the little girl in this article is a primary school student in Tianwan Township, Yanyuan County, and Tianwan Township doesn’t produce apples at all, and there is no apple tree in her home. In this regard, Yang Yun confirmed that after their investigation, the e-commerce company had made a donation to the local area, took this photo of the little girl who was moved to tears, and grafted it into this post. Yang Yun told reporters that most of the pictures in the post are photos of Liangshan many years ago. "Deliberately selling poverty and suffering, deliberately labeling Liangshan, seriously damaging the image of Liangshan and Yanyuan."
He said, "Because the e-commerce company is registered in Tianhe District, Guangdong Province, we have sent an official letter to the Tianhe District Administration for Industry and Commerce in Guangzhou, requesting that the company be investigated. If the investigation is true, it will be punished according to relevant laws. At present, the local industry and commerce department is investigating. "
3. "Is it difficult to sell Yanyuan apples this year?"
Truth: The department responded that the production and sales are booming, and the output of 500,000 tons has sold 400,000 tons.
Yanyuan County is the largest apple production base in Southwest China, and Yanyuan Apple has obtained "Sichuan Famous Trademark" and "China Well-known Trademark". Most local fruit farmers have an annual income of 100,000 ~ 150,000 yuan, and there are also millions of yuan. "The fruit farmers in the apple producing areas are still relatively rich, not as described in the net post." Song Shuping, deputy director of Yanyuan County Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau, said.
Song Shuping said that there was a sharp cooling in the northern region at the beginning of this year, which led to a reduction in production in major apple producing areas such as Shaanxi, Gansu and Shandong. The supply in the country was tight and prices all rose. Therefore, there is no difficulty in selling Yanyuan apples at all. This year, the county’s apple production is expected to be more than 500,000 tons, and the output value will exceed 2 billion yuan. Up to now, it has sold about 400,000 tons, and all dealers have entered a state of grabbing goods, and the freezer has been booked out.
"In fact, last year, some e-commerce companies issued a document on Yanyuan Apple ‘ Sad marketing ’ But it didn’t have any impact. " Song Shuping said that this year’s "sad marketing" reappeared, and the Yanyuan County Party Committee and the county government attached great importance to it and issued a statement in time to set the record straight. "This time, Yanyuan Apple was tragically marketed by illegal e-commerce, and it was reported in the news some time ago ‘ Slow-moving grandfather ’ The routine is almost the same. "
Sad routine
E-commerce company:
Most pictures are found online.
Sell 100 thousand apples a day
The reporter’s investigation found that the first posting of the unsalable post of Yanyuan Apple was a WeChat WeChat official account named "Help Sell and Help Agriculture". The subject of the account belongs to Guangzhou Bangmai Information Technology Co., Ltd. The company posted this post on October 11, and it has now displayed that "this content cannot be viewed due to violation of regulations". It is understood that after the post was issued, there were other e-commerce WeChat public accounts and network reprints, and most of them have been deleted.
WeChat official account’s brief introduction shows that the concept of "helping agriculture with business and helping the poor with love" helps farmers solve unsalable agricultural products and brings green, healthy and pollution-free consumer goods to consumers. The reporter found that the company released a lot of news about the slow sales of agricultural special products, such as: linden honey is looking forward to selling, Cuihong Li is trapped in the mountains, local eggs are looking forward to selling, and Hainan mango is slow-selling & HELIP; …
On October 17th, the reporter contacted Chen Xinquan, the purchasing director of Guangzhou Bangmai Information Technology Co., Ltd., and had a face-to-face interview. Chen Xinquan said that the unsalable posts of apples in Yanyuan County were processed by employees, most of which were found online, some were photos of Liangshan before 2007, and some were found in posts published by other shopping malls. "Now many e-commerce companies are using these pictures when promoting agricultural products."
He said that there is something wrong with this article, which has caused some bad effects on the local government and Yanyuan Apple. "We also apologize for dealing with this problem in Yanyuan County these days." He said that because the pictures and tweets of the article are not in line with reality, the WeChat WeChat official account has been frozen by the Guangdong Provincial Network Information Department. "We are dealing with this matter and hope that WeChat official account can unblock it as soon as possible, so as to learn from it and post articles according to the facts in the future."
"Last year, we were selling Yanyuan apples and sold more than 500,000 pieces in more than a month." Chen Xinquan said that this year, they ordered millions of kilograms of apples, and the purchase price per kilogram was 1~2 yuan. A box of 7 kilograms of Yanyuan Apple Net sold for 49.9 yuan, and 100,000 apples could be sold a day.
Reporter’s investigation:
The "slow-moving grandfather" was removed
The sad routine is still there.
In fact, the experience of Yanyuan Apple is only a microcosm of the "sad marketing" of e-commerce companies. Nowadays, there are countless online posts that appeal to everyone to love to buy, such as slow-moving pineapples, slow-moving red dates, slow-moving tangerines and slow-moving onions.
The reporter learned that in May this year, a number of e-commerce platforms released "100 million kilograms of onions in Daliangshan are unsalable" and "9 cents a catty has not been purchased", which attracted attention. The Xichang Municipal Government Information Office responded that its propaganda was obviously exaggerated and did not conform to the facts. In this regard, relevant departments in Xichang have taken measures to investigate and deal with it.
In the same month, the Linyi County Government of Shanxi Province issued a statement on "Linyi apples are unsalable", saying that several e-commerce companies issued the marketing plan of "Linyi apples are unsalable" and adopted the "posing" method to deliberately create the poor image of fruit farmers, which had a serious impact on the overall brand image of the fruit industry.
Some media surveys also found that the portrait of a grandfather was widely used by merchants and was called "slow-moving grandfather" by netizens, but there was no slow-moving fruit in his home, which was just a routine of "sad marketing" of e-commerce. The reporter’s search network found that after the incident was exposed, major e-commerce platforms removed the pictures of "slow-moving grandfathers", but some e-commerce companies and WeChat public accounts replaced them with other sad pictures: young children holding agricultural products, old farmers crying, aunts sighing for fruits, and disabled people asking for help. It is difficult to tell whether they are slow-moving or not.
Netizens who suffered from "sad marketing" said that they were very angry when they saw the order for "helping farmers". "I will never dare to be kind again", "I have cheated netizens and also cheated fruit farmers".
Chengdu Business Daily reporter Jiang Long’s photo report
Views of all parties
Doctor of Economics:
Overdrawing consumer sympathy will only sever the bond of trust.
Deng Qijun, President of Liangshan E-Commerce Association: In recent years, the phenomenon of "sad marketing" has been widespread. Individual e-commerce companies have won the sympathy of consumers by means of fraud, which has ruined the overall business environment of e-commerce, and we also hate it.
Zhu Qiming, Ph.D. in Economics and Chairman of Wharton Technology-Marketing Joint Consulting Agency, said: "Sad marketing" has never been an innovation, such as "the boss is crazy and the boss has run away". But in recent years, it has almost become a public hazard to consume consumers’ "love" and "sympathy" without a bottom line. It will only split the bond of trust with consumers, and in the overall and long run, it will damage the overall brand image and the overall interests of all fruit farmers.
The lawyer said:
False propaganda has violated the law, and the administrative organ may punish it.
Lawyer Zhang Tianhong of Sichuan Qianheng Law Firm: From the consumer’s point of view, the news sent by e-commerce companies is mixed with a lot of fictional plots and pictures, and the content of the statement is seriously inconsistent with the objective facts. It is completely false propaganda and will bring consumers wrong cognition. This kind of false "sad marketing" behavior and means must be severely cracked down to maintain the stability of the market economy.
Lawyer Wang Yingzhan of Beijing Lanpeng (Chengdu) Law Firm: According to the Advertising Law, the behavior of the above-mentioned merchants is a kind of false propaganda, and the administrative organ may impose administrative punishment on them according to law. "Producers, publishers and operators of advertisements should be punished accordingly."