The picture of ＂sad grandpa with unsalable fruit＂ was abused, and the official accused it of inaccurate marketing.

　　Recently, a statement issued by Linyi County Government of Shanxi Province on the improper marketing method of "Linyi Apple is unsalable" has aroused concern. According to the statement, a number of e-commerce companies released the marketing plan of "Linyi Apple is unsalable" and used the "sad card" to market Linyi Apple, which had a serious impact on the brand image of the local fruit industry, and the marketing content was exaggerated and inaccurate.

　　Beijing Youth Daily reporter saw that in WeChat official account and e-commerce platforms, there are still merchants who sell apples by slow sales as a marketing propaganda method. In addition to Linyi apples, there are also many businesses selling goods on the grounds of "apples are unsalable", "fresh bamboo shoots are unsalable" and "pineapples are unsalable", all of which use photos of the same old man as propaganda maps. In this regard, e-commerce customer service said that merchants may be suspected of infringing portrait rights, and the platform will also supervise the sales behavior of merchants.

　　event

　　"Linyi apples are unsalable"? Local claims exaggerate the facts.

　　On May 7th, Linyi County Government of Yuncheng, Shanxi Province issued a statement on the improper marketing method of "Linyi Apple is unsalable". According to the statement, recently, several e-commerce platforms released the marketing plan of "Linyi Apple is unsalable", and used the "sad card" to market Linyi Apple, which had a serious impact on the overall brand image of Yuncheng Fruit Industry. After comprehensive and in-depth verification, there are many exaggerations and inaccuracies in this information.

　　According to the investigation of Linyi county government, the videos and pictures selected for the report were all taken before 2016, and some of them also used the "posing" method to deliberately create a poor image of fruit farmers. In addition, in order to win the sympathy of consumers to the greatest extent, e-commerce deliberately creates the ugly characteristics of Linyi apples, and the apples presented are all inferior fruits with rust scars, pockmarks, black spots and cracks. These apples are the residual apples left after merchants screen and purchase high-quality apples, accounting for only a small proportion.

　　Linyi county government also said in the statement that some platforms have obtained materials with official seals of local townships, villages and fruit industry departments by improper means, and the contents of the statement are seriously inconsistent with the facts; Most platforms deliberately exaggerate the severity of slow sales of fruits, resulting in unreasonable fluctuations in apple prices.

　　According to the survey, the main sad brand is a common marketing method, and agricultural products such as pineapple in Xuwen, Guangdong Province and tangerine in Anhui Province have also been marketed in this way. The purpose is to attract people’s attention and gain consumers’ sympathy, which is convenient for fruit farmers to sell their fruits in a short-term and partial way, but it will damage the overall brand image and the overall interests of all fruit farmers in the long run.

　　Yesterday, the reporter of Beiqing Daily searched on an e-commerce platform and found that there are still many businesses selling Linyi apples in the name of "caring for farmers" and "40 million kilograms of apples are unsalable in Shanxi". One of the merchants who claimed to sell unsalable apples in Linyi sold 8.5 kg of apples at a price of 28.7 yuan, while the place of delivery was Shenzhen, Guangdong. On its publicity page, an old man wiped his eyes with his arm, holding several banknotes from 10 yuan and 5 yuan in his hand. In other pictures, there are a lot of moldy or damaged apples piled on the ground, and some elderly farmers are standing in the village with apples in their hands. There are many words in the propaganda, such as "fruit farmers are in a hurry" and "want to cry without tears". Commodity reviews show that many buyers are buying for the promotion of helping farmers. The seller admitted to the reporter of Beiqing Daily that the store address was in Shenzhen, but claimed that the photo was taken by "friends who arranged for employees to go to the place of origin".

　　survey

　　Abused "slow-moving grandfather"

　　The reporter of Beiqing Daily learned that in addition to "Linyi apples are unsalable", there are many businesses selling goods by "promoting unsalable", including pineapple, fresh bamboo shoots and other foods, as well as blankets and other supplies. Surprisingly, many businesses use photos of the same old man, and this old man is also named "unsalable grandfather" on the Internet.

　　In one of the shops selling apples, the publicity picture shows the old man on the left, a large number of apples on the right and the words "Apples for sale, love and help" in the lower right corner. The price of apples is 27.9 yuan for 10 Jin, and the freight is 20 yuan.

　　Merchants said in the propaganda, "The local natural environment is only suitable for growing apples, and the economic income is very limited. The blocked traffic makes the fruit harvested every year rotten and can’t be sold. " Merchants are also equipped with photos of local fruit farmers, simple houses and a large number of apples.

　　In the publicity, the merchant said that the unsalable apples were produced in Yucheng County, Shangqiu, Henan Province, and the delivery place was Dashahe Town, Fengxian County, Xuzhou.

　　In this regard, the reporter of Beiqing Daily contacted the Yucheng county government. The government staff said that there are indeed many apples planted in the local area, but this year I have not heard of slow sales. "This is a marketing method, which exaggerates marketing." The staff of Dashahe Town Government said that there was unsalable agricultural products last year, but the inventory should have been processed by now. Even if there are still apples left, it is not recommended to buy them. At the same time, there is no traffic jam in Dashahe Town.

　　Another store selling "wild bamboo shoots" also used photos of "slow-moving grandfathers". The image of the old man in the propaganda picture remains the same, except that the picture on the right side is replaced by bamboo shoots, which are also accompanied by the words "seeking help".

　　The store told the reporter of Beiqing Daily that bamboo shoots came from Lingui District, Guilin, and he didn’t know the "slow-moving grandfather". He used this photo only because "he is good at pulling business", and many different businesses are also using the photos of the grandfather to attract customers. The store also said that because this kind of "wild bamboo shoots" only has a one-month listing period, it really helps the sales after using the photos of "slow-moving grandfather". "Fruits and rice noodles are used a lot, and we are not a family."

　　Later, the reporter of Beiqing Daily called the Lingui District Government of Guilin City. A staff member said that it was past the bamboo shoot digging season and had never heard of unsalable agricultural products. "Bamboo shoots are generally dug around Qingming, and now they are very old, and the local planting bases are not so large. Most of them are wild and it is impossible to produce unsalable products."

　　Through the image recognition search, after the reporter of Beiqing Daily entered the head photo of "slow-moving grandfather", he identified more than ten kinds of goods, and the types and origins of goods were different. In addition to apples and bamboo shoots, there were lemons, melons, loquats and other foods, even including rose seedlings, lamps and other commodities. The words "seek help" or "help us" were written on the lower right of the publicity map.

　　respond

　　The platform called "slow-moving grandfather" photos or suspected infringement.

　　Yesterday, the reporter of Beiqing Daily contacted the customer service of the online e-commerce platform. For the merchants to sell goods in the name of "slow sales", the customer service said that users can make complaints if they find that the situation is inconsistent, and the staff will handle it.

　　In addition, the company also has a large database, which will supervise the merchants. In addition, after seeing the photo of "slow-moving grandfather", the customer service staff said that many shops have used the photo of this grandfather as propaganda, which has been suspected of infringing on the right to portrait. "The shop owner has the right to protect his rights and interests if he finds it. The platform will definitely be responsible for him."

　　lawyer

　　Shops should bear corresponding administrative responsibilities for false propaganda.

　　Lawyer Han Xiao of Beijing Kangda Law Firm said that the store sells Linyi apples and other commodities in the name of unsalable sales, and the statement is seriously inconsistent with the facts, deliberately exaggerating the severity of unsalable fruit, which has been suspected of false propaganda as stipulated in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Anti-Unfair Competition Law. According to relevant regulations, the operator may be fined more than 200,000 yuan and less than 1 million yuan; If the circumstances are serious, a fine of not less than 1 million yuan but not more than 2 million yuan may be imposed, and the business license may be revoked.

　　Regarding the issue of consumer rights protection, Han Xiao introduced that the false propaganda behavior of online stores violated consumers’ right to know. Apple and other commodities do not belong to the category of "seven days without reason to return", but consumers and stores can ask for a refund after consultation.

　　In addition, based on the intention of fraud, the store has carried out fraudulent acts of false propaganda, which has caused consumers to have a wrong understanding and bought their fruits based on the wrong understanding. If it has caused losses to consumers’ property (for example, consumers spend a high price to buy back inferior fruits with scars, pits and cracks), their actions are suspected of fraud.

　　Text/reporter Guo Linlin Intern Zhang Yaolin