Reporter Si Yumeng wen/Photo
In recent years, ultraman cards have become rapidly popular among teenagers and have even become a social "currency" for primary and secondary school students. Some media reported that the total cost of ultraman cards is about 10,000 yuan for ordinary enthusiasts, more than 100,000 yuan is considered an expert, when the total cost of millions of yuan, will be called "card king" in the circle.
So, what is the status of teenagers' "kryptonite" on ultraman cards? And how to guide young people to consume rationally? The reporter of China Consumer Daily conducted an investigation and interview on this.
The parents of the child's "kryptonite gold" pay the bill
In recent years, ultramanka has become very popular among teenagers. Whenever after school or on a day off, children often get together to exchange set card tips or exchange cards, and having hundreds of Ultraman cards has become a basic feature for players.
It is understood that Ultraman Card is produced by Kayou Company, as of February 27, 2021, kayou animation offline traditional channels have covered more than 33 provincial-level administrative regions, more than 300 wholesale channel distributors, covering more than 250,000 physical stores.
The reporter of China Consumer Daily visited and found that many stationery stores, supermarkets and convenience stores in Beijing have Ultraman cards for sale. A stationery store owner told reporters: "During the summer vacation, Ultraman cards sold well, and the price of a single package was 1 yuan, 2 yuan, 5 yuan, 10 yuan, 20 yuan, and there were also whole boxes to buy, such as the Yang Flame version of 249 yuan per box, and children who played with cards for a long time took the whole box more, because the probability of a good card was large. According to him, most of the buyers are children aged six or seven, and there are also younger children, some parents bring their children to buy, and some children often come to buy themselves.
On August 13, the reporter came to the Kayou flagship store on the third floor of Beijing Xihongmen Huiju Shopping Center, where five or six children sat around a circular table. The reporter saw that the table was spread out with torn outer bags and cards, and one of the little boys threw most of the torn cards aside and put the remaining cards in his hand into the Ultraman card book. The reporter learned after inquiry that he purchased a whole box, a single package of Ultraman cards, spent more than 200 yuan, and threw it next to it was a duplicate card. "What are you going to do with the cards thrown next to you?" The little boy replied, "You can exchange it with someone else or you can sell it online." ”
The reporter noticed that at the checkout place in the store, almost every child was followed by one or two parents waiting to pay the bill. The reporter exchanged with the parent Ms. Tian and learned that although Ms. Tian's son is only 4 years old this year, he has been playing Ultraman cards for more than 1 year, and has collected more than 1,000 cards, with an average monthly cost ranging from tens of yuan to hundreds of yuan.
Set cards are easy to compare with addiction
Mr. Kuang, a collector card enthusiast, said in an interview with the "China Consumer Daily" reporter that the ultraman card players that have emerged in recent years are mostly primary and secondary school students, mainly for two reasons. First, ultraman cards are priced lower; Secondly, there are many Ultraman animation IP and character shapes are deeply loved by children, a character shape has different rare levels of cards, if you want to collect, you need to constantly buy and tear bags.
A shopkeeper told reporters: "Ultraman card bag is the same as the blind box, I don't know what cards are inside before tearing the bag, they are random, and individual versions can check the number of rare cards in the card bag in the official guide." ”
The reporter learned from a supermarket that sells Ultraman cards that children who have just started playing Ultraman cards will generally buy a classic version of 1 yuan / bag, a deluxe version of 2 yuan / bag, with more and more collection cards, they will buy a legendary version with a higher price, a yang flame version or even a whole box to buy, the higher the price, the easier it is to get a good card.
In addition to the card booklets, card bags and other derivative consumption of collectible cards, the reporter found that some e-commerce platforms also have stores that rate Ultraman cards. Among them, a shop called "Ultraman Card Rating Line", according to the card rarity rating, the rating price ranges from 20-30 yuan. The reporter asked the customer service: "What is the role of the Ultraman card rating?" Customer service replied: "The cards after the rating are more collectible." ”
Ms. Zhao, a Beijing resident, told the China Consumer Daily reporter: "Once, my nephew spent 5 yuan to buy a pack of Ultraman cards and issued a King of Ott CR card, which was priced at 368 yuan on the online shopping platform. Later, he asked me to help resell it for 190 yuan on the second-hand online shopping platform. ”
The reporter searched for "Ultraman Card" on the second-hand online shopping platform and found that there are second-hand sellers selling single cards with high rarity grades such as SP and GP, and the selling prices have different degrees of premium.
The reporter learned from the relevant person in charge of Kayou (Xihongmen Huiju Store) that most of the children who come to buy cards are accompanied by guardians, and the consumption amount is low in the case of a very small number of people without guardians, about 20-30 yuan. In order to prevent minors from indulging in card purchases, the back of the outer packaging of the card tour product is printed with the words "Love to learn, refuse to pirate, self-protection, beware of being deceived, reasonable consumption, do not indulge", and the applicable age is marked "6 years old or older".
However, how much can this prompt play a role in primary and secondary school students who lack self-control?
Experts call for rational consumption
Zhu Wei, deputy director of the Communication Law Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, said in an interview with the China Consumer Daily reporter that the nature of Ultramanka's products is not fundamentally different from the blind box, and the product sales population is mainly minors, and such products are very easy to make minors addicted and compared.
Sun Hongyan, director of the Institute of Children and Adolescents of the China Youth Research Center, told the China Consumer Daily reporter that the sale of Ultraman cards to minors is easy to cause three problems. The first is the hidden dangers of consumption. Some minors lack a reasonable concept of money and consumption awareness, in order to collect rare grades of Ultraman cards, they will develop bad consumption habits, forming an addiction psychology of continuous purchase and comparison psychology. The second is social hazards. Like-minded teenagers have created new social circles because of the exchange cards, which span geography and kinship, and extend the social circle of minors with fun as the basis for social interaction. Some second-hand card swap circles expand the social scope of minors and also bring certain hidden dangers. The third is the hidden dangers of thought. The purchase of Ultraman cards is both a consumer behavior and a cultural behavior, and excessive immersion in it is easy to form the ideological concepts of showing off, comparing, gambling, and addiction.
Sun Hongyan said that parents, as guardians, should properly check and correctly guide the amount and content of their children's consumption, and it is not advisable to blindly connive and reprimand. Parents can help their children establish good values by enriching the leisure life of minors, enhancing their self-control, and so as to correctly view entertainment methods such as Ultraman cards and blind boxes, and achieve rational consumption.
Kang Liying, director and professor of the Family Education Research Center of Capital Normal University, said in an interview with the China Consumer Daily reporter that for adolescents whose mental development has not yet matured, the consumption behavior of the collection card is easy to form an unfavorable situation of comparison and excessive consumption. Parents should control the child's excessive consumption behavior, when it is found that there are adverse factors in the child's growth environment, which may induce the child to have some behavioral problems and psychological problems, parents should maintain a high degree of vigilance.
Kang Liying also said that on January 1 this year, the Family Education Promotion Law was officially implemented, which means that the whole society must create a social environment conducive to the healthy growth of children. Families, schools, enterprises and manufacturers facing the children's consumer market should empower families with the right to education.
Source: China Consumer Daily