Jimu News Reporter Zhang Hao
On June 28, Jimu News reporter saw on Tianyan Check that Estee Lauder (Shanghai) Trading Co., Ltd. was fined 400,000 yuan for false advertising. This is not the first time the company has been fined for the same reason. Previously, international famous products such as LV and Chanel were also punished for false advertising, which surprised consumers. What's wrong with these international brands? Consumers and lawyers agree that the penalties need to be improved and that the merchants need to increase the cost of illegal violations.
Estee Lauder exaggerates the effects of "removing acne and removing wrinkles"
According to the Shanghai Jing'an District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau, from February 2017 to March 2018, Estee Lauder sold "Clinique Fresh 10% Vitamin C Essence VC Ampoule Facial Essence" on the Tmall Mall "Clinique Clinique Official Flagship Store" and claimed that "4weeks improve acne scars" and "12weeks improve skin self-healing ability" effects, but the behavior that cannot provide relevant basis is misleading to consumers (whistleblower), and constitutes an illegal act of misleading commercial publicity of the products.
Estee Lauder claims that part of the medical effects of the smooth fruit elm green wood bark extract in the product formula is generalized by a partial generalization, claiming that "wrinkle removal" is an exaggeration of the product's efficacy, which is misleading to consumers (whistleblower), and misleading to consumers (whistleblower), and also constitutes an illegal act of misleading commercial publicity about the product. According to Article 20, paragraph 1 of the "Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China" (2018 edition) "If an operator violates the provisions of Article 8 of this Law to conduct false or misleading commercial publicity on his goods, or helps other operators to conduct false or misleading commercial publicity by organizing false transactions, the supervision and inspection department shall order the violation to stop the illegal act and impose a fine of not less than RMB 200,000 and not more than RMB 1 million; if the circumstances are serious, the fine of not less than RMB 1 million and not more than RMB 2 million may be revoked, and the business license may be revoked" and Article 23 of the Administrative Penalty Law of the People's Republic of China "When an administrative agency implements administrative penalties, it shall order the parties to correct or correct the illegal act within a time limit", the Shanghai Jing'an District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau recently made a decision: order Estee Lauder to stop the illegal act and impose a fine of RMB 400,000.
It is understood that Estee Lauder has been punished for false advertising many times before: On July 30, 2018, Estee Lauder published advertisements using national, highest, best, etc.; operators used advertisements to make misleading false advertising on product quality, production ingredients, performance, use, producers, validity period, place of origin, etc., and were fined RMB 110,000; On June 15, 2017, Estee Lauder used advertisements to false advertising on goods or services, deceiving and misleading consumers; if the content of food, alcohol, and cosmetics advertisements does not meet the sanitary license, and if medical terms or terms that are easily confused with drugs, they were fined RMB 88,800.
Many well-known brands were fined for false advertising
Jimu News reporters found that before, international famous products such as LV and Chanel were also punished for false advertising, and Chanel has more than once.
In November last year, Chanel (China) Trading Co., Ltd. was administratively fined 200,000 yuan by the Shanghai Jing'an District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau for publishing false advertisements and using advertising terms that promote the effect of "freckle removal and whitening" in ordinary cosmetics advertisements that do not have the effect of whitening and freckle removal, which caused complaints from consumers. According to the investigation by Jing'an District Market Supervision Bureau, since December 2016, Chanel (China) Trading Co., Ltd. has sold a cosmetic called "Chanel Luxury Essence Cream (Lightness)" on the Chanel (China) official website operated by it. In the product web advertisement, the advertising term "skin care effect: ... color spot fading" was used; since March 2018, the company sold a cosmetic called "Chanel Glory Good Night Repair Mask" on the above official website, and the advertising term "suppressing melanin" was used in the product web advertisement.
According to the product formula of the State Food and Drug Administration imported non-special purpose cosmetics filing certificate, the product formula involved does not have the effect of whitening and freckle removal, and the parties involved cannot provide an experimental report proving that the product has the whitening and freckle removal function as mentioned in the advertisement. Therefore, it constitutes an illegal act of publishing false advertisements. In addition, in 2017, the company was confiscated by the Shanghai Huangpu District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau for "producer and seller doping and adulterating in product , using fakes as real, inferior as good, or using unqualified products as qualified products", and confiscated illegal income of 414,341.4 yuan, fined 1.3 million yuan, and ordered to stop sales.
And on June 23 this year, the website of the National Enterprise Credit Information Disclosure System announced an administrative penalty information: Louis Vuitton (China) Commercial Sales Co., Ltd. was suspected of false propaganda, but the claimed "identity accessories" did not actually exist, and was fined 200,000 yuan. According to investigation by the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Jing'an District, Shanghai, starting from November 20, 2018, LV Company has launched a "SURENE BB Handbag" (item number M43750) on its official website. The product details page promotes: "The leather name tag can be removed, highlighting the finishing touch of LV characteristics." The leather name tag can be removed, and the user's business card and other items can be placed, which can be used to mark and identify the identity information of the handbag user, and can be worn or removed, which is one of the product accessories. However, the actual product sales do not have leather name tags that can be removed, and the product information promoted on the web is inconsistent with the actual product.
Lawyer suggests raising the penalty standard
"The products of small manufacturers are trusted, but I didn't expect that the international brands I liked have repeatedly posted false advertisements, which are not worthy of their name." Ms. Huang, who works in real estate, has good financial conditions and likes to buy high-end clothing and cosmetics in daily life. In an interview with Jimu News, she expressed her confusion: "I didn't expect that international big brands also made fakes, which makes people feel so uncomfortable!"
talked about why international big brands also posted fake advertisements. Many consumers, including Ms. Huang, believe that big brands may also have the pressure of survival of big brands, and the market competition is fierce. The store rent, celebrity endorsement advertisements, various channel fees, etc. are relatively expensive, while the illegal cost of false advertising is not high. For example, the above-mentioned LV was fined 200,000 yuan, "that is, the money of 10 bags."
"International big brands repeatedly violate the law, and the low penalty standards are probably an important external factor. Compared with the benefits of false advertising, it is difficult to form an effective economic constraint on merchants." Lawyer Chen Liang of Hubei Haolu Law Firm believes that no matter what kind of merchant it is, it is unrealistic to strengthen the legality and compliance of business behavior by relying solely on self-discipline, so it is necessary to further increase the penalty standards, multiply the amount of benefits as the base, and multiply by more than 1 times to prevent merchants from making profits due to false advertising. In addition, when the administrative department confirms that the merchant is illegal, consumers can file a civil claim based on this.
Central South University of Finance and Economics Law Professor Zhang Demiao told Jimu News reporter that the advertising field is not a lawless place. The " Advertising Law " clarifies three principles: advertising should be authentic, legal and in line with the requirements of socialist spiritual civilization construction. Among them, the principle of authenticity is the core. False advertising violates this core principle. Whether it is a big brand or a small company, operators shall not make false or misleading commercial publicity about the performance, function, quality, sales status, user reviews, and awards of their products, and deceive or mislead consumers. All acts that violate my country's Advertising Law should bear corresponding responsibilities.Professor Zhang Demiao further explained that Article 55 of the Advertising Law stipulates that if false advertisements are published, the industrial and commercial administrative department shall order the advertisement to stop publishing, order the advertiser to eliminate the impact within the corresponding scope, and impose a fine of not less than three times but five times the advertising fee. If the advertising fee cannot be calculated or is obviously low, a fine of not less than 200,000 yuan and not more than one million yuan will be imposed; if there are more than three illegal acts within two years or other serious circumstances, a fine of not more than five times but ten times the advertising fee shall be imposed. If the advertising fee cannot be calculated or is obviously low, a fine of not more than one million yuan and not more than two million yuan will be imposed. The business license may be revoked, and the advertising review authority shall revoke the advertising review approval documents and shall not accept their advertising review application within one year.
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