Female consumers being harvested for the "pink tax"?, Same style, same quality, different price colors | Product | Same quality

Should a bright and eye-catching color of the same product be more expensive than "black, white, and gray"? Many people believe that this is a "pink tax".

During the 618 promotion, major platforms have sprung up with revelations about the "pink tax" like mushrooms after rain. The so-called "pink tax" by netizens refers to the same material, workmanship, or even identical goods. If they are replaced with bright colors such as pink that women will probably like, and then labeled as "exclusive" to women, the price will rise immediately.

A reporter from Pengpai News investigated and found that some products on online shopping platforms, such as dumbbells, clothes, keyboards, shoes, luggage, etc., do indeed match the "pink tax" claimed by netizens, with a maximum price difference of up to 200 yuan, and even pink sockets are sold more expensive than white sockets.

These phenomena have also sparked resistance among some female consumers. Someone has established a "Pink Tax" boycott alliance on Douban, listing unexpected "Pink Tax" products in daily life, from toothpaste to esports chairs, covering everything.

In this regard, some lawyers believe that the "pink tax" actually belongs to the phenomenon of price discrimination based on gender, but in the current legal system of our country, the legislation in the field of price discrimination still needs to be improved.

Does the product have gender?

"A pink suitcase of the same model and style is more than 150 yuan more expensive than a black one, which is outrageous. Recently, a consumer from Guangzhou, Xiaoyue, claimed to have felt the existence of the" pink tax "for the first time.".

The same suitcase, pink is 156 yuan more expensive than black

She told The Paper that she was planning to purchase a suitcase during the 618 shopping festival and was interested in a 24 inch suitcase from the Horizon 8 brand. However, she unexpectedly discovered a suitcase of the same model and size, priced at 549 yuan in pink and only 393 yuan in black.

Regarding this, a reporter from Pengpai News searched for the flagship store of "Horizon 8" and found that the luggage that Xiaoyue was interested in had a total of 6 colors, including Phantom Black, Interstellar Blue, and Temperament Grey, all of which cost 393 yuan. Glacier powder, mustard green, and aurora green are all priced at 549 yuan.

The reporter from Pengpai News also saw that there is a price difference for another PC box in the flagship store of the brand. In the 618 shopping subsidy table presented by the store, pink/green/white/green color suitcases are all more expensive than black/gray/blue colors. Depending on the size, the color difference is 80 yuan and 130 yuan.

The reporter asked, "Why is the price difference between the two colors so much?"? The customer service representative of the store said, "Compared to other colors, color is not so dull. It is very suitable for you who have personality. Pay for your personality and won't collide with the box." The other party also introduced, "The material is the same, the quality is the same, the color is different, and the price is different."

This explanation is consistent with the response received by Xiaoyue during her consultation, "It indicates that many consumers question this question, and they have a language of answer. Distinguishing colors and prices based on gender is a typical 'pink tax'," Xiaoyue said.

Many consumers on social media have reported experiencing the "pink tax", similar to a dumbbell, where pink dumbbells are more than ten yuan more expensive than black; The same brand of short sleeves sells for 700 yuan for men and 900 yuan for women; The same shoe, the "pink green" color is 30 yuan more expensive than the "blue white" color... Some consumers have pointed out that due to factors such as female body shape, women's products usually require less fabric and materials in the production process of clothing and shoes than men's products, but there is a strange phenomenon that women's products are more expensive than men's products in terms of price.

A survey by a reporter from Pengpai News found that there are indeed many products on online shopping platforms that match the term "pink tax", such as esports chairs, headphones, keyboards, sockets, and other products. Some products can see the price difference between "black" and "pink" in the same link, while others sell black, white, and gray products separately from brightly colored products. Without comparison, it is difficult to find the price difference.

Pink Tax Boycotter Alliance

The concept of "pink tax" actually originated from abroad and was mentioned as early as the last century. In 1991, a study by American economist Ian Ayres found that white women cost 40% more to purchase the same new car than white men. Previously, a survey report from the New York Department of Consumer Affairs showed that women's clothing is on average 8% more expensive than men's clothing, while the price of care products is relatively 13% higher. Industrial products such as shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel, which have similar raw materials and production processes, are labeled as "female only" or "male only", resulting in a price difference.

There is a group on Douban called the Pink Tax Boycotter Alliance. More than 20000 users have been gathered, and the group profile states: "Girls are not the wool of unscrupulous merchants, refusing to be cut.".

There are multiple posts that introduce and analyze the "pink tax" in different product categories to women, such as "Some Pink Taxes on Esports Girls", which provides a detailed introduction to the price differences in color and style of some brands of esports products. Someone has also released the "Pink Tax List", which lists products that are prone to "pink tax" and how to search and avoid "pink tax" when shopping online, such as changing "makeup brush holder" to "pen holder" and "makeup bag" to "travel storage bag".

Coco, a girl from Hangzhou, told Pengpai News that she had been trying to resist the "pink tax", but it was impossible to prevent it. "For the first time, I felt that the" pink tax "was to buy a white T-shirt for my boyfriend. We bought it in a store. We bought him a men's XL size, and I bought a women's M size, which was 20 yuan more expensive than him. But when I got there, I found that the material and shape were the same, and my size was a little smaller." Coco said that when I bought androgynous clothes, I would add the word "man" at the back.

The same headphone, pink is 20 yuan more expensive than black

In the "Don't Buy | Consumerism Reversers" group on Douban, women have also been advocated to buy men's T-shirts. The logic behind this is consistent with Coco, where men's clothing is priced lower, looser, with more size choices and more fabric usage.

Lawyer: Suspected of price discrimination

Does the existence of the "pink tax" comply with laws and regulations?

In response to the above situation, Xing Xin, a senior partner and lawyer at Hunan Jinzhou Law Firm, analyzed that the "pink tax", as a pricing situation where products targeting women are more expensive than those targeting men, essentially belongs to price discrimination based on gender.

This behavior of merchants to a certain extent violates the principle of fairness that operators should follow in pricing as stipulated in Article 7 of the Price Law of the People's Republic of China, and also infringes on the right of consumers to obtain fair trading conditions such as reasonable prices as mentioned in Article 10 of the Consumer Rights Protection Law of the People's Republic of China.

Xing Xin believes that it is necessary to regulate this phenomenon of price discrimination. However, in the current legal system of our country, there is only one article that explicitly prohibits price discrimination, and its application is limited to operators. In other words, Article 14 (5) of the Price Law of the People's Republic of China states that operators providing the same goods or services shall not discriminate against other operators with the same conditions. Therefore, it is difficult to find a solid legal basis for regulating and cracking down on the phenomenon of "pink tax", and there are certain difficulties in practice. "This also indicates that the legislation in the field of price discrimination in China needs to be improved."

Therefore, he stated that in this situation, in order to reduce the harm caused by the "pink tax", relevant administrative departments should strengthen market price supervision and ensure the standardized operation of market order; Merchants should abide by business ethics and strengthen price self-discipline; Consumers should also improve their discernment ability, avoid falling into consumption traps, and promptly protect their rights by filing complaints with consumer associations when their legitimate rights and interests are infringed upon.