CBO reporter Zhu Cong
From touching international brands such as Porcelain L'Oréal, Shiseido, Lancôme, Estée Lauder, etc., to the DCT beauty era to focus on foreign niche brands, the aesthetic power of the new generation of "plagiarists" has improved, but with the advent of global information transparency, it can not escape the fire eyes of consumers.
01
The appearance of the "Zhuanjiao" product has been accused of plagiarism
Recently, some bloggers pointed out that the two essence products newly launched by the domestic brand FOCU & SFEMME have carried out "packaging materials and concept plagiarism" on the foreign niche brand Noble Panacea.
△Left: FOCU & SFEMME products, Right: Noble Panacea products
Visible only by appearance, the similarity is extremely high. Zoom in and look closely, the two products have slightly different joints at the folding angles: the specialty is sharper, and the Noble Panacea is smoother.
Some consumers commented under the brand's Xiaohongshu operation account: "From the space capsule concept to the sub-throw replacement design, from the design to the product 100% replica level plagiarism Ofble Panacea." ”
The "Cosmetics Finance Online" reporter search found that the ownership of the FOCU & SFEMME brand trademark belongs to "Little Red Lip (Beijing) Network Technology Co., Ltd." (hereinafter referred to as "Little Red Lip"), which is a social e-commerce platform launched in 2015. In 2018, Xiaohongli launched the first super brand "Zhuanyan", focusing on women's great health and internal clothing and beauty, and subsequently formed a brand matrix including Keman, Zhuanyan, Juemi Garden, etc.
According to the information of the public account, at the beginning of its establishment, the product line of Zhuanjiao was mainly based on big health drinks, and the skin care line began to be added in June 2020. The current brand positioning is "anti-aging laboratory brand", focusing on "polypeptide anti-aging", the product adopts secondary throw, replaceable core design, environmentally friendly packaging.
The two essences that were allegedly copied by the packaging material (the Special Space Capsule Peptide Eye Essence and the Specialized Space Capsule Polypeptide Facial Essence) were launched in the past six months. There are 1000+ notes on the Little Red Book, "the wind is very strong", and the keywords are highly bound to "cutting-edge domestic products", "the light of domestic products", "dark horse skin care products", "anti-aging top students" and so on.
It is worth noting that the brand focuses on the anti-aging market, 9 ml eye cream costs 289 yuan, and each ml costs about 32 yuan, comparable to Estée Lauder small brown bottle eye cream.
Another protagonist, the Noble Panacea brand, is led by 2016 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry. Founded in 2019 and headquartered in California, Fraser Stoddart claims to be "the world's first skincare brand founded by Nobel Laureates." Fraser is one of the most prominent scientists in the field of organic supramolecular chemistry and nanoscience.
The brand claims to use the patented technology of ORGANIC Super Molecular Vessels, OSMV technology, to protect volatile elements such as retinol and vitamin C, avoiding the use of additives and stimulants to enhance efficacy.
△ Noble Panacea brand concept interpretation
Each product (individually packaged in 30 servings of daily active dose) is packaged in an octagonal box made of plastic-free, renewable starch-based materials, and consumers can reuse existing boxes with a smaller carbon footprint by purchasing a 30-day active dose refill (as is the brand).
On September 27, 2021, Noble Panacea launched the Tmall overseas flagship store and announced its official entry into China. Due to the high price, 30 pieces of essence need 3800 yuan, so it is relatively niche in China, Tmall overseas flagship store is only 2000 fans, and the monthly sales are less than 5.
02
Brand response: "There is no plagiarism"
"Cosmetics Finance Online" reporter on the "whether to plagiarize" to the brand to verify, Tmall flagship store customer service response said that "As a polypeptide anti-aging laboratory brand, Zhuanyan focuses on product research and development and innovation in the field of peptide in the field of anti-aging, and the problem you feedback has been verified and does not exist, thank you for your attention to the brand." ”
Some consumers speculate: "Maybe the brand is pit by the foundry?" ”
"The focus of the packaging factory's choice of opening a male mold is whether there are many brands willing to choose, making it so unique and memorable, which is not in line with the logic of the male model." It was pointed out that this conjecture was not reasonable.
As far as the products involved are concerned, the manufacturer of the peptide eye essence of the space capsule is Zhongshan Zhongyan Cosmetics Co., Ltd., which has a long history of packaging material infringement, and has twice been sued by Manxiu Leidun (China) Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Mingchuang Preferred (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd. for "infringement of design patents".
The reporter of "Cosmetics Finance Online" asked the above-mentioned Zhongshan Zhongyan Cosmetics Co., Ltd. through email to verify this matter, and the other party did not respond.
A packaging material manufacturer told reporters: "For the general brand packaging materials, imitation is not difficult, especially if it is a male model, it is even more difficult." Of course, many brands will have their own private models, but this does not mean that they cannot do it, as long as the profit margin is high enough. ”
03
Consumers are therefore "down"
Some consumers pointed out: "I am not a packaging party, the goods are good and the price is good, and I do not use packaging." There are also voices that retort: "Even if you don't want to make your own packaging, the ingredients will not be much better." ”
The "Cosmetics Finance Online" reporter found that Zhuan Jiao had previously been fined 250,000 yuan for the false publicity of the big health drinks launched.
In fact, in the beauty practice comment area, many consumers said that they were attracted by the brand because of the "space capsule + sub-throw form + functional ingredients", and some consumers "thought it was very creative before, and found that after copying a foreign niche, they instantly lowered their heads." ”
At present, there are already popular science lightning stickers on the Little Red Book, calling on consumers not to be deceived.
It is not difficult to find that plagiarism in the cosmetics industry is becoming more and more hidden. From the previous imitation of international big brands such as DIOR and Lancôme to now eyeing foreign niche independent brands, the aesthetic power of the new generation of plagiarists has also improved, which will make consumers who do not know the truth feel bright, but in the end they will also suffer from bad consequences.
"The world is flattening, and information gaps are always being smoothed out. Blind plagiarism is not a long-term solution. An industry insider said.
"A brand, if it wants to go long-term, should still move forward steadily." Especially domestic products, in recent years, are also striding forward, more should be down-to-earth, do not move some crooked thoughts. Let's not say whether things are good or not, but I still advise that the packaging is exactly the same as others, which is really enough to fall into the domestic products. The development of domestic products is not easy, and it is okay and cherished. Beauty Practice settled in skincare & review blogger @Kikuji Mitani said.