The Hainan Coconut Tree Group's "coconut water rubbing milk" advertisement that began on May 6 was fined 400,000 yuan, which seems to be far from over and is still fermenting. Recently, the painting style of the live broadcast room of Coconut Tree Group has changed abruptly, and the anchors have wrapped themselves tightly in live broadcast......
According to a number of media reports, on the afternoon of May 11, an online video said that the four female anchors suspected of being Coconut Tree Group changed their previous dressing style, wore long sunscreen clothing, and danced on the background wall of the "Coconut Tree Group 2024 Hainan Stability and Happiness Run" event.
Previously, Coconut Tree Group withdrew the relevant advertisement, but in its "one worry" and "two dissatisfaction" statements released on the evening of the 9th, it complained that it was punished.
Image source: Video screenshot
Coconut tree "wears sun-protective clothing" after being fined
The dancing video has attracted attention again
On May 6, Coconut Tree Group was administratively fined 400,000 yuan by the Longhua Branch of Haikou Market Supervision Administration for vulgar advertisements such as "coconut water rubbing milk". According to the relevant administrative penalty decision, the promotional graphics and texts published by Coconut Tree Group on its own website used state agency staff for commercial marketing, and used advertising slogans that violated public order and good customs, such as "rubbing milk with coconut" and "South Pacific beauties rarely 'airport'", which was suspected of violating the relevant provisions of the Advertising Law.
On the evening of May 9, the Coconut Tree Group issued a statement of "one worry" and "two dissatisfactions", saying that it was worried that the famous brand would be destroyed, and the jobs of nearly 20,000 employees of "Coconut Tree" and upstream and downstream enterprises would be smashed, so that 500,000 coconut farmers in Hainan could not sell their coconuts, get rid of wealth and return to poverty.
Dissatisfied, reprinting "rubbing milk with coconut water" and "there are few beauties in the South Pacific" on the official website of "Coconut Tree" is popular science education, not a commercial advertisement. There is no article in the Advertising Law that clearly stipulates that it is illegal to reprint popular science education on one's own official website, and "nothing prohibited by the law can be done". The second dissatisfaction is that it has been losing money for 7 consecutive years on the official website of "Coconut Tree", and the second bankruptcy was saved by death, and it was designated by the State Council as a pilot project for the restructuring of 100 households in the country. It is factory history education, not a commercial advertisement.
Image source: Screenshot of Coconut Tree's official website
The "worry" and "dissatisfaction" of the Coconut Tree Group have sparked a lot of discussions. Among them, "the worry is that the famous brand will be destroyed", "smashing the employees' jobs", "coconut farmers can't sell coconuts" and other content, many netizens think that they are "playing the bitter card", and at the same time, the potential threat meaning is also read.
According to the Southern Metropolis Daily, on May 10, the staff of the Haikou market supervision department said that after the punishment, the coconut tree group revoked the relevant advertising, and the fine also required the company to pay within a time limit. If such behavior occurs after the penalty, the regulatory authorities will follow up further. Regarding the Coconut Tree Group has been punished for publishing illegal advertisements many times, the staff member pointed out that "it has indeed been fined, and there are many complaints, and the regulatory authorities are dealing with it in accordance with the principle of investigating and dealing with it together when it is found."
On the afternoon of the 11th, a video related to "The Style of the Coconut Tree Live Room Has Changed" appeared on the Internet - 4 female anchors suspected of being Coconut Tree Group changed their "cool" dressing style in the past, wore long sunscreen clothing, wrapped their faces and bodies tightly, and danced in front of the background wall of the "Coconut Tree Group 2024 Hainan Stable and Happiness Run" event.
Screenshot of the video of "The Style of the Coconut Tree Live Broadcast Room" that went viral on the Internet
On the 12th, the related video went viral on the Internet. "After the coconut tree was fined 400,000 yuan for the side advertisement, the anchor's live broadcast was tightly wrapped" and "the style of the coconut tree live broadcast room has changed greatly" and other topics quickly aroused widespread attention and discussion.
In this regard, some netizens ridiculed that "the coconut tree boss is anti-bone". Some netizens left a message, "What kind of wind is the coconut tree live broadcast doing?" At first glance, I thought it had been stolen, and now I have switched to selling sunscreen clothing" "This is obviously unconvinced" "400,000 is just for them to save 400 million in advertising costs" "400,000 three hot searches, this level is really high"......
The previous painting style of the live broadcast room of the Coconut Tree Group
The reporter noticed that on May 12, in the recent videos and live broadcast records posted by the official account of Douyin Coconut Tree Group, no video clip of "female anchor wrapped tightly and dancing" was found. However, in a video released at 9 p.m. on May 11, there was a background wall of the "Coconut Tree Group 2024 Hainan Stability and Happiness Run" event in the online video, with five or six male and female anchors running in normal running clothes and shorts.
Up to now, Coconut Tree Group has not officially responded to the authenticity of the videos related to the "Coconut Tree Live Room Style Change", shooting (or screen recording) time and other issues.
Advertisements have been fined several times
Still "the main one is not convinced"
In recent years, Coconut Tree Group has been on the hot search for alternative marketing (also known as reverse marketing and reverse marketing) many times, and has been fined many times, most of which cannot be avoided by being questioned vulgar advertising and controversial publicity. However, most of the coconut tree groups chose to be tough, or "discounted" sexual obedience, and "the main one is not convinced".
As early as 2019, the new packaging of Coconut Tree brand coconut water was considered to be suspected of vulgar and false content due to advertising words such as "I have drunk it since I was a child", and was investigated and punished by the local industrial and commercial department, after which the State Administration of Radio and Television asked it to stop broadcasting the relevant version of the "Coconut Tree Brand Coconut Water" advertisement.
The Coconut Tree Group said on its official Weibo that the advertising slogan "I have drunk from childhood to adulthood" does not violate the Advertising Law and has been approved by the China Advertising Association.
However, on March 27, 2019, the Industrial and Commercial Bureau of Longhua District, Haikou City, determined that the Coconut Tree Group's advertisements hindered social public order or violated good social customs, and imposed an administrative penalty of a fine of 200,000 yuan on Hainan Coconut Water Beverage Co., Ltd. of Coconut Tree Group.
In March 2021, the Hainan Provincial Market Supervision Bureau filed a case for investigation into the suspected illegal advertising of Coconut Tree Group due to advertisements such as "no major is limited, as long as you know how to write, you will have a car, a house, a high salary, and there must be beautiful women and handsome guys to chase". In June, Coconut Tree Group was fined 400,000 yuan for obstructing public order or violating good social customs.
On April 2, 2021, Coconut Tree posted a post on Weibo and its official website, saying that this sentence did not explicitly violate current laws and regulations.
However, this did not change the outcome of the punishment. In June 2021, Hainan Coconut Water Beverage Co., Ltd. of Coconut Tree Group was fined 400,000 yuan by the Hainan Provincial Administration for Market Regulation for publishing advertisements that violated good social customs.
Coconut Tree Group Co., Ltd. was established on July 25, 1980, and its main business scope includes investment and management of food and beverages; machinery manufacturing and maintenance; beverage technical consulting services; Purchase of agricultural and sideline products.
According to the official website, Coconut Tree Group, formerly known as Haikou Canning Factory, lost money for five consecutive years from 1981 to 1985 and was on the verge of bankruptcy, and then gradually developed. In 2023, the annual output value will be 5 billion yuan, the annual tax payment will be 682 million yuan, and there will be more than 6,000 employees.
According to the enterprise investigation, after the equity penetration, 100% of the company's ultimate beneficiary is the Hainan Coconut Tree Employee Stock Ownership Association. Hainan Coconut Tree Employee Stock Ownership Association was established in 1996, and the legal representative is Wang Guangxing, the founder of Coconut Tree Group. At the beginning of April this year, Coconut Tree Group Co., Ltd. underwent industrial and commercial changes, and Zhao Bo stepped down as chairman and was replaced by He Chunling. At present, Zhao Bo still serves as the legal representative, director and general manager of the company.
Behind the edge marketing
Sales performance continues to climb
Last year, it was sold for 5 billion yuan
Controversy marketing did not prevent it from making money, and after the operation of "continuous side-of-the-line marketing and frequent punishment response", the sales performance of Coconut Tree Group continued to rise.
According to Hainan Special Zone Daily, on February 20 this year, the Coconut Tree Group's 2024 New Year Opening Conference was held in Haikou. In 2023, Coconut Tree Group will achieve a total annual sales volume of 700,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 10.26%; sales of 5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.08%; The tax paid was 682 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.39%.
It is reported that this is the fourth consecutive year that Coconut Tree Group has achieved revenue growth. According to the data of the list of top 100 enterprises in Hainan Province over the years, from 2019 to 2022, the revenue of Coconut Tree Group will be 4.328 billion yuan, 3.989 billion yuan, 4.616 billion yuan, and 4.719 billion yuan respectively. According to the data of Coconut Tree Group's internal magazine "Coconut Tree People", Coconut Tree will achieve sales growth against the trend for two consecutive years in 2021 and 2022. In 2021, the sales volume increased by 16.82% compared with 2020; In 2022, sales increased by 5% on top of the double-digit growth in the same period in 2021.
Hainan Remember Happy Culture Media Co., Ltd. is a new media company incubated by Coconut Tree Group, mainly responsible for the publicity of Coconut Tree. Its person in charge, Yin Dandan, once recalled that before 2021, Coconut Tree also made many short films and promotional videos and distributed them to channels such as the official account, but because the content style was very official, the communication effect was not good. Until Yin Dandan stumbled upon the traffic password of the "coconut tree model".
Regarding the negative label of Coconut Tree Group on the Internet, the staff of Coconut Tree Group once responded: "I will respect different opinions, uphold an inclusive attitude, adhere to my heart, and hope that I will not lose the self-persistence of the brand in the opinions of netizens." ”
Enterprises can't be "black and red are also red"
In the face of controversy, it is necessary to have a proper attitude
According to a previous report by Southern Metropolis Daily, Song Ruliang, director of the Guangdong Research Center for the Rule of Law, told reporters that from a legal point of view, these expressions of coconut trees are in violation of legal prohibitions, are not oriented correctly, and there is gender discrimination and physical discrimination. Once a copy is issued, there is not a juxtaposition between popular science and the law, but a boundary between right and wrong. On the premise of violating the law, how can we talk about popular science?
Song Ruliang further pointed out that the marketing of coconut palm is a new type of marketing that can be called "legal dispute marketing", which is a kind of marketing under the condition of being familiar with the prohibitive provisions of the law, with the characteristics of high degree of subjective intention, approaching or stepping on the legal red line, and the logic behind it is that regardless of whether it is punished or not, and regardless of the integrity record after punishment, the ultimate goal is to increase sales.
One of the characteristics of this kind of sales is that legal elements such as penalties and criticisms, disputes and other legal elements are regarded as a marketing element to attract consumers. Even though there may be negative effects and legal risks in the process, the enterprise may have considered these in advance when marketing, and these impacts and penalties are likely to be in the company's marketing budget, and the penalties are insignificant compared to the sales leveraged. The reason why Coconut Tree has not been listed is most likely because it knows that the current marketing methods make it unable to go public, and once there is a legal risk after listing, the stock price is likely to be greatly affected. Coconut trees can't afford to lose.
Jimu News commented that Coconut Tree Group has repeatedly been on the hot search due to edge marketing, and has been punished by relevant departments many times while enjoying traffic dividends. However, they do not seem to have changed their minds. There is no guarantee that similar problems will not occur next time. Because the fine of 400,000 yuan is only a small amount for the company's income, and the financial impact on the company is minimal.
This reminds us that fines are not an end in themselves. The regulatory authorities should do a good job in daily supervision, take the initiative to discover various problems in the publicity of enterprises, point out and require rectification in a timely manner, and no longer let the illegal propaganda spicy the eyes of the public. It is not allowed to allow companies to profit by misleading consumers, as well as enjoying the dividend of "black and red are also red".
For companies, it's time to make up their minds to change their marketing ideas. Even if illegal publicity can bring temporary traffic and sales, for enterprises, it is undoubtedly a drink to quench their thirst, and the dividends brought by it are also capped.