In recent years, with the continuous improvement of people's living standards and health awareness, especially attention to environmental health hazards such as formaldehyde and PM2.5, functional or health products have emerged at the historic moment, and "air" products have emerged on the market. Various functional products such as purification, formaldehyde removal, aldehyde purification, and negative oxygen ion products are springing up like mushrooms after a rain.
A few days ago, the website of the Shanghai Municipal Administration for Market Regulation disclosed the decision to punish IKEA: for publishing false advertising, IKEA (China) Investment Co., Ltd. was fined 1.7251791 yuan and ordered to stop publishing.
The news also revealed: After investigation, IKEA's "GUNRID" curtain products were self-designed with the main content of "old materials, bringing new air" and "air purifying curtains GUNRID ￥299/2 pieces" Advertisements such as "Made from recycled PET bottles" were released on Shanghai subway light boxes and Xiaohongshu APP from August 29, 2020 to October 13, 2020.
It was also found that the "air purification" function promoted in the above advertisement is based on an ideal purification result obtained by testing curtain samples for specific target pollutants under limited test conditions. report.
The actual living environment conditions in which the curtains are used are far different from the test conditions, and the air purification function of the curtains cannot be effectively exerted. Consumer surveys show that the "air purification" function is the main factor for consumers to purchase advertised curtains, and their purchase intention has changed significantly after consumers were informed of the test conditions.
The decision stated that IKEA's above-mentioned behavior violated the provisions of Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China, which states that "advertisements shall not contain false or misleading content, and shall not deceive or mislead consumers" and constituted the second Article 18, Paragraph 1 and Paragraph 2, Item 2: “Advertising that deceives or misleads consumers with false or misleading content constitutes false advertising.” “An advertisement that falls under any of the following circumstances is deemed false advertising: (2) The performance, function, origin, use, quality, specifications, ingredients, price, manufacturer, validity period, sales status, honors and other information of the product, or the content, provider, form, quality, price, sales status of the service, Information such as honors received and promises related to goods or services are inconsistent with the actual situation and have a substantial impact on purchasing behavior."
ToIt is definitely not fair to say that functional products are completely exaggerated. Taking the antibacterial materials used in ceramics as an example, looking at the essence through the phenomenon, its principles are mainly divided into two types: one is the metal antibacterial mechanism. Metal ions such as silver, zinc, and copper react with certain groups on proteins to destroy bacterial cells and physiological activity. After entering microbial cells, they destroy the enzymes in the electron transfer system and react with -SH groups to achieve the purpose of sterilization. After killing bacteria, the metal ions can be freed from the cells and repeat the above process without any loss of themselves, so the bactericidal function is relatively long-lasting.
One is the photocatalytic antibacterial mechanism. Nano-antibacterial materials absorb short-wave light radiation with energy higher than its forbidden band width in water and air (oxygen), resulting in electronic transition. The electrons in the valence band will be excited to the conduction band and decompose themselves into freely moving negatively charged high-voltage electrons. Active electrons (e-) also generate positively charged holes (h+) in the valence band, forming hole-electron pairs.
Under the action of an electric field, electron-hole pairs are separated and migrate to different positions on the surface of the nanoantibacterial material. The holes distributed on the surface of the nano-antibacterial material and the OH- and H2O adsorbed on the surface are oxidized into OH free radicals, which activate oxygen and hydroxyl radicals. The highly active electrons have a strong redox effect and can reduce the oxidation rate on the surface of the nano-antibacterial material. Oxygen is reduced to O-2, which can also reduce metal ions in water.
OH free radicals have the strongest oxidizing ability and can indiscriminately oxidize and degrade all organic matter, including penetrating cell membranes, destroying membrane structures, decomposing bacteria and viruses, and degrading toxins produced by cells. They have extremely strong chemical activity. , can undergo oxidation reactions with most organic matter, thereby killing germs and viruses.
Many excellent functional products or materials can actually withstand the inspection of market supervision departments and consumers, but the premise cannot be ignored such as key information such as under specific conditions and specific environments, let alone amplify certain information out of context. The test report data is sidelined and used to create marketing routines.
In addition, as the main endorsement unit of functional products, can the testing agency be authoritative, impartial and fair? Rather than pretending to be an institution or an authority, it is actually a profit-making institution that is linked to the interests of businesses.
In the ceramic industry and home building materials industry, products similar to the "GUNRID" in the IKEA curtain incident are actually everywhere, and the phenomenon of exaggeration or false propaganda is even worse. These products or brands have low public attention and are not as popular as foreign brands like IKEA.
But there is also no shortage of genuine and excellent functional products or materials in these industries, which are worthy of consumers' choice and trust. we can'tWe should not eat in vain, and we should not resort to fraud and indulge in routine marketing. We should make good functional products in a down-to-earth manner, and let the products speak for themselves rather than the data or certification agencies. This is the best advertising and marketing.
Author｜Shi Rongbo
Marketing Director of Xiejin Enterprise, senior ceramic product person
(Article reproduced from Ceramic Information)
