A single quotation of 500000 yuan? Be careful with online evaluations of the popularity of "planting leeks" | Video. Boss | Network

I must expose you to such a business! Let's watch videos first... You must have seen similar videos on various social media platforms. However, if you have the patience to watch it, you will find that the content behind the video is actually promoting a certain product, and even a product link will be hung below the video for consumers to place orders directly.

The accounts that publish such videos are usually named "25 reviews" or "25 anti-counterfeiting". However, some of them, under the guise of "third-party" and "neutral" evaluations, actually engage in marketing business and have formed a mature industrial chain behind them. How to standardize third-party evaluations also tests the wisdom of regulators.

In the name of "cracking down on counterfeits", it is actually selling goods

"Boss, do you need reviews to boost popularity? We can help you increase traffic." Recently, Xiaoqiu, who runs a hairy crab online store, received a private message stating that their team is professional in creating review accounts and has abundant resources for review and anti-counterfeiting accounts. They can help merchants promote products from a third-party perspective and improve conversion rates.

Xiaoqiu told China News Service that she had received multiple private messages with similar content before.

Currently, online evaluation is quite popular on various social platforms and has also attracted many bloggers to join. According to the survey report on the impact of third-party evaluations on consumer rights released by the China Consumers Association in March, nearly 80% of consumers will watch third-party evaluations before shopping.

However, some seemingly neutral third-party evaluations actually engage in the business of selling goods and advertising marketing, using the name of evaluation to promote sales. Some accounts that claim to be "third-party anti-counterfeiting" are actually "fake anti-counterfeiting, real advertising".

Zhongxin Jingwei consulted an MCN agency on behalf of a certain brand of household appliances distributor. A staff member explained that they have rich evaluation account resources and can help promote products from a third-party perspective. "Our experts' resources are distributed across various platforms, whether you want to create short videos or text."

The above staff stated that the current online evaluation is quite mature. One method is direct evaluation, which introduces the product and some actual user experience, and finally concludes that the order can be placed. Another form is under the guise of "cracking down on counterfeits", which may seem to help consumers clear the mine, but in reality, it is praising a certain product and guiding consumers to place orders.

Xiaoqiu also told China News Service that there was a team specializing in evaluation accounts that advised her to do one for "evaluation" and one for "anti-counterfeiting", "in order to appear more objective".

The specific content discussed in the evaluation is entirely determined by the brand, according to the staff mentioned above. As for whether there is exaggerated or even false content in the content provided by the brand, it is not within the scope of the evaluation number.

The highest single quotation is several hundred thousand yuan

One important reason why Xiaoqiu rejected several evaluation teams was that the price was too high. "The cheapest one costs a few thousand yuan, and a small shop like me cannot afford it," said Xiao Qiu.

Zhongxin Jingwei consulted the aforementioned MCN institution in the name of seeking evaluation cooperation on a certain short video platform. According to a quotation provided by the organization, based on the number of fans, the prices for each evaluation account range from a few thousand yuan to tens of thousands of yuan. For example, an evaluation account with 43000 followers is priced at 1800 yuan for 21 to 60 second content, while another account with 4.95 million followers is priced at 33900 yuan for 21 to 60 second content.

The above staff also stated that some internet celebrities with tens of millions of followers and even some celebrities will also do evaluation content. "However, they offer relatively high prices and have many requirements, basically according to their style. In the past one or two months, the price for a single internet celebrity with millions of followers is about 500000 yuan, and the price for a single celebrity is about 700000 yuan."

And while these paid evaluations mentioned above struggle to ensure fairness, they also turn what should have been neutral and professional evaluations into channels for exaggerated promotion and even false marketing.

The report from the China Consumers Association shows that 55.7% of "third-party evaluations" are suspected of having a business testing integrated model, which makes it difficult to ensure fairness.

The recent experiential survey conducted by the China Consumers Association on 350 account works on 12 online platforms showed that 93.1% of "third-party evaluations" were suspected of having issues with evaluation standards; 35.7% of third-party evaluations have suspected false evaluation issues.

Regulatory challenges

In the eyes of lawyers, paid evaluations are suspected of infringing on consumer rights.

Lawyer Zhang Feifei, Deputy Director and Partner of the Intellectual Property Department of Bank of China Law Firm in Beijing, stated in an interview with China News Service that the "third-party" evaluation account, dressed in the guise of "evaluation," conducts false and subjective evaluations of goods or services as an "experiencer" and from a so-called neutral perspective. Its essence is to promote and sell goods or services, that is, to advertise or bring goods to the brand, and to accept the expenses or sales commissions of the promoted brand behind the scenes, which is suspected of infringing on the consumer's right to know, choice, and fair trading rights.

At present, there are certain regulatory challenges regarding third-party evaluation. Firstly, apart from the easy identification of promotional marketing content in the product link reviews, users find it difficult to distinguish which are paid reviews and which are professional neutral reviews. Furthermore, some bloggers may have professional evaluation content that is similar to daily sharing, making it difficult to distinguish and define.

In response to the chaos in the field of third-party evaluation, many departments have introduced targeted measures to continuously increase supervision and rectification efforts. The Measures for the Administration of Internet Advertising, which came into force on May 1, details the regulatory rules for advertising in key areas such as soft text advertising, Internet advertising with links, and advertising published live on the Internet, and makes it clear that if goods or services are promoted through knowledge introduction, experience sharing, consumption evaluation, and purchase methods such as shopping links are attached, the advertisement publisher should clearly mark "advertising".

Zhang Feifei suggested that the platform should strengthen the content review of such accounts, set the label of "third-party evaluation", and establish an Internet complaint reporting mechanism to quickly deal with the evaluation content that is not objective and public. For consumers, when choosing products, it is important to compare prices and not blindly follow the trend. They should also retain the ability to question unqualified third-party evaluation agencies.