Recently, the central radio network published the "reporter investigation: well-known academicians for hundreds of businesses to endorse, recommend products" article, the reporter found in the investigation, some merchants on an e-commerce platform used Zhong Nanshan, Li Lanjuan and other academicians photos as product promotional pictures, claiming to treat arthritis, skin diseases and diabetes and other diseases. According to incomplete statistics, hundreds of related stores and thousands of pictures are involved. In the survey, some merchants claimed that their products were endorsed and recommended by Academician Zhong Nanshan, while some merchants said that they were not celebrity endorsements and were "only displayed".
On December 27, 2023, Academician Zhong Nanshan told a reporter from CCTV that he had never endorsed or recommended any products for any merchants, including e-commerce. At the same time, he believes that the illegal use of other people's portraits for commercial endorsements and recommendations will also mislead consumers and infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. The lawyer entrusted by Academician Zhong Nanshan's team said that a lawyer's letter had been sent to the platform and was defending his rights, and the platform told him that it was being processed, but it had not yet been processed.
On January 1, the reporter searched for the store and related products on the e-commerce platform again, and found that the pictures involved had been taken off the shelves. The customer service staff of the platform also said that merchants can upload pictures by themselves, and the platform will have a unified investigation in the later stage, but when the investigation cannot be ensured, and the final page display after the merchant uploads the picture shall prevail.
The images and products involved have been taken off the shelves
On January 1, the reporter searched for relevant stores and products again on an e-commerce platform, and saw that the product pictures and related products that had previously used academicians such as Zhong Nanshan and Li Lanjuan had been removed from the shelves, and some merchants had changed their store names.
Product promotional image on an e-commerce platform
However, the reporter found on the e-commerce platform that some merchants changed the "vest" of the product promotional map, and the text in some promotional pictures showed exaggerated and inappropriate promotional slogans such as "Swearing: Ineffective Death for Eight Generations", "Blood Pressure Drops on the Same Day, No Longer High in One Life", "Use Today, Be Good Tomorrow, Never Recur" and other exaggerated and inappropriate slogans, and even some promotional pictures show pictures of suspected multiple people kneeling.
The reporter randomly selected the stores of "China Inheritance Chinese Medicine Hall" and "Hangzhou Traditional Chinese Medicine Hall", and the promotional pictures of a variety of products said, "100,000 people are cured every day", "If I can't be cured, I will pay 100 billion" and so on.
Among them, the promotional text of one product reads: "Gallbladder Treatment: Genuine Medicine Hemangioma Elimination Tea, Chinese Herbal Plaster for Removing Multiple Kidney and Gallbladder Polyps". According to the customer service staff, the product is a health tea that can treat gallbladders.
A health tea sold in a store said it could treat gallbladder tumors
Fu Jian, director of Henan Zejin Law Firm, said that according to Article 16 of the Advertising Law, advertisements for medical treatment, drugs and medical devices must not contain assertions or guarantees indicating efficacy or safety, indicating the cure rate or effective rate. Article 18 of the Advertising Law stipulates that advertisements for health foods shall not contain assertions or guarantees indicating efficacy or safety, involve disease prevention and treatment functions, claim or imply that the advertised goods are necessary for the protection of health, compare them with medicines and other health foods, and use advertising spokespersons to make recommendations, testimonials, and other content prohibited by laws and administrative regulations.
Fu Jian believes that businesses must abide by the principles of truthfulness, accuracy and legality when conducting advertising, and must not carry out false publicity. Regulators should strengthen the supervision of e-commerce platforms and merchants, intensify the crackdown on false advertising, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
Platform: It is not recommended to use information such as photos of others without their authorization
On the morning of the 1st, the reporter called the platform's customer service as a merchant for consultation. According to the customer service staff, according to the platform's regulations, the product cannot be too absolute or exaggerated descriptive words in the promotion, and if it is found by the platform, there will be penalties for false publicity.
Subsequently, the customer service staff sent a detailed implementation rules for the identification and punishment of information that did not match the actual situation. According to the detailed rules, the information does not match the actual situation, which means that the product or store information posted by the member in the product or store area does not match the actual situation. This includes, but is not limited to: (1) exaggerating, excessively or falsely promising the effect and extent of the product: 1. using terms such as "national", "superlative" and "best", 2. making false or misleading publicity about the quality, use, and use effect of the product, such as the product actually has no efficacy but the product is released to describe the efficacy, or the product is effective but the content and scope of the product are exaggerated and excessively described when the product is released. 3. Other descriptions that exaggerate propaganda.
The customer service staff also said that merchants can upload pictures by themselves, and the platform will conduct a unified investigation in the later stage, but it is impossible to ensure the time of investigation, and the final page display after the merchant uploads the pictures shall prevail.
Regarding whether it is possible to use unauthorized celebrity photos and other information for promotion, the customer service staff said, "At present, there is no specific verification of relevant instructions." You can try to use it, or you can upload it normally, but you don't guarantee that you won't be complained of infringement after using it, and you can't guarantee that you won't be punished after the platform investigates. It is not recommended to use it if it is not licensed. ”
Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law Research Association of the China Law Society, said that for platforms, similar false advertisements should fall within the scope of knowing or should know, and if the platform does not take measures such as blocking, resulting in damage to consumer rights and interests, it will bear joint and several liability in accordance with the law. Secondly, it also exposes the lack of integrity and legal awareness of merchants. In addition, internet platforms cannot provide channels for publishing advertisements that violate laws and regulations, and e-commerce platforms should strengthen supervision and crackdown on such violations.
Lawyer: It is necessary to strengthen the inspection of e-commerce platforms and merchants
According to the data of the 2022 theme survey results of the China Consumers Association's "Jointly Promoting Consumption Fairness" Consumer Rights Protection Year, "health products" ranked first in the category of goods and services that consumers are most dissatisfied with for two consecutive years, and online consumption is more likely to be dishonest or illegal than offline physical store consumption. A diabetes expert pointed out that with the rise and development of the Internet, many false and illegal advertisements have shifted from offline to online, especially in the health care product market, which has become the "hardest hit area" for unfair competition such as publishing illegal advertisements for false publicity, and has been repeatedly banned.
Fu Jian said that false advertising has had a negative impact on consumer rights and interests, the market economy, and the construction of the rule of law. Consumers often rely on merchants' promotional messages when purchasing goods, and false advertising can mislead consumers, causing them to buy goods that do not meet their expectations, and may even cause health hazards.
He believes that false advertising also undermines the environment of fair competition in the market, makes it difficult for honest businesses to obtain fair competition opportunities, and leads to an imbalance between supply and demand in the market, so that the needs of consumers are misled, thus affecting the normal operation of the market. At the same time, it will also damage the credibility and image of the enterprise, reduce the trust of consumers in the brand, and then affect the development of the entire industry.
Fu Jian said that false advertising on e-commerce platforms is not entirely a gray area of market supervision. For example, for advertisements published by a manufacturer on the Internet, the market supervision department where the manufacturer is located will supervise and manage, and the local regulatory department will impose penalties on those who violate the Advertising Law.
Fu Jian said that it is necessary to strengthen the daily supervision and inspection of e-commerce platforms and merchants, discover and deal with false advertising in a timely manner, severely crack down on illegal acts, and increase the cost of violations; relevant departments and e-commerce platforms, merchants, consumers and other relevant parties can establish an information sharing mechanism, strengthen cooperation, and jointly crack down on false advertising; in the era of big data, it is necessary to be skillful and good at using big data, Artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies to improve regulatory efficiency and achieve precise supervision, and should continue to improve relevant laws and regulations, clarify the legal responsibilities of e-commerce platforms and merchants, and provide a legal basis for supervision. ”
Source: CNR