A remark by Jiang Feng, executive director of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, caused huge controversy.
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On April 15, the fifth edition of the "Learning Times" published a theoretical article entitled "Trade-in needs to get out of cognitive misunderstandings", written by Jiang Feng.
Jiang Feng said in the article that for household appliances, many consumers have certain misunderstandings, thinking that as long as they are not broken, they can always use them, and as long as they can be repaired, they don't want to replace them, and even feel that it is a waste to replace the household appliances that can still be used. In fact, home appliances, like food, have an "expiration date".
As soon as this statement came out, consumers were not calm.
"Don't speak on behalf of the seller"
"If it's free trade-in, I'll change it every day"
"Consume the planet, by any means. ”
"Durability was advertised in the past, with an emphasis on decades of use"
"Before the renovation of my house, the refrigerator was used for 20 years and the air conditioner was used for 25 years. The seller of electrical appliances came out to talk about the expiration date, the meaning is too obvious. ”
Yijian Finance found that Jiang Feng's remarks were in line with the previous views of Dong Mingzhu, chairman of Gree Electric Appliances.
On March 6, Dong Mingzhu, a deputy to the National People's Congress, suggested that mandatory standards for the safe service life of household appliances should be established as soon as possible, a catalogue of the safe service life of household appliances should be formulated and implemented, a traceability system for household appliances should be established and improved, and household appliances should be required to indicate the safe service life, and the publicity of the compulsory scrapping system for household appliances should be increased.
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Yijian Finance noticed that whether it is Dong Mingzhu or Jiang Feng's views, the theoretical basis comes from the "Safe Service Life of Household Appliances" released a few years ago.
In January 2020, the China Household Electrical Appliances Association held a press conference on the "Series of Standards for the Safe Service Life of Household Appliances" in Beijing, and officially released the "Safe Service Life of Household Appliances" series of standards, covering eight products in six categories: refrigerators and wine cabinets, air conditioners, washing machines and dryers, range hoods, gas stoves, and electric water heaters.
According to the standard, refrigerators, air conditioners, and wine cabinets are safely serviced for 10 years, and washing machines, dryers, gas stoves, range hoods, and storage electric water heaters are safely used for 8 years.
The standard also states that exceeding the safe service life is not a product quality problem, and that household appliances may have potential safety hazards that may lead to personal injury if they are used beyond the time limit, such as electricity leakage, fire, mechanical hazards, air leakage, etc. The longer the overdue use, the higher the chance of accidents, so it is necessary to remind consumers to replace the product in a timely manner.
However, the standard also makes it clear: "The safe service life is not equal to the warranty life of the product." "Marking the safe use period is a public welfare consumption reminder activity, which will not bring any change to the legal liability of consumers, producers, distributors and other relevant parties. ”
Jiang Feng pointed out in the article that according to the "Safe Use Life of Household Appliances", the total number of key products such as refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, and washing machines in the mainland in 2022 will be about 150 million units, which theoretically accounts for more than 80% of sales in 2022. But in fact, the actual renewal rate of air conditioners may not exceed 50%, and the actual renewal rate of refrigerators and washing machines is about 60%.
This means that there are a large number of household appliances that are in service beyond the expiration date, and there are even a large number of household appliances that have been used for more than 10 or even 20 years. Jiang Feng said.
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According to official data, the Study Times was founded in September 1999 and sponsored by the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, with party and government cadres at all levels and the vast number of intellectuals as its main targets.
In 2019, Study Times was newly included in the list of major news units of the Central Committee, which is directly under the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and an important propaganda and research position of Marxist theory in the mainland. The status and role of this media can be seen.
In the view of Yijian Finance, Jiang Feng's article can be published in the "Study Times", which is related to the recent promotion of large-scale equipment renewal and consumer goods trade-in actions by relevant departments.
Some analysts believe that there is nothing wrong with Jiang Feng's motives, and the reason why it has caused huge controversy is that his views are too obvious to stand on the opposite side of consumers, and in the context of the current economic downturn and the slowdown in residents' income growth, such views can easily trigger consumer resistance.
According to the official website, the China Household Electrical Appliances Association was established in December 1988 and is a national, non-profit social organization and a social group legal person. It is subject to the business guidance, supervision and management of the competent business department, the State-owned Assets Management Commission of the State Council, the China Light Industry Federation and the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the registration and management authority of associations.
According to the list of "main leaders" of the association, the chairman is Tao Xiaonian, who also serves as the secretary of the Discipline Inspection Committee (deputy director) of the China Light Industry Federation, and Jiang Feng is the executive chairman, and she is also the part-time vice president of the China Light Industry Federation.
However, Yijian Finance noticed that the SASAC said in response to netizens' inquiries in April last year that the SASAC had canceled the hosting relationship with 14 industry associations, including the China Light Industry Federation.
The purpose of the association is very clear: to represent the interests of enterprises in the industry, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the industry, and reflect the demands of member enterprises...... Executives of well-known domestic home appliance companies, including Zhang Shaoyong, CEO of TCL, Wang Jinliang, vice president of Midea Group, Li Huagang, senior vice president of Haier Group, and Dai Huizhong, vice president of Hisense Group, are all vice presidents of the association.
It can be seen that as the executive chairman of the China Household Appliances Association, it is not surprising that Jiang Feng expressed the view that household appliances have a "shelf life".
However, in the view of Yijian Finance, the healthy and sustainable development of any industry cannot rely on manufacturers alone, and the interests of consumers must also be taken into account.