Blind box is not a regulatory blind zone
What is a blind box?
Simply put, it is a box with the same appearance and packaging but different built-in products. You can't see the contents of the box before you buy it. You can only see the truth after you open the package.
Recently, blind boxes have become a popular commodity in the market. From toys to catering, from beauty to cultural tourism, many consumer fields have set off a "blind box style".
With the popularity of this type of consumption, problems are also coming.
The China Consumers Association recently issued consumer reminders, listing all kinds of chaos such as excessive marketing by businesses, suspected false propaganda, difficulty in guaranteeing product quality, and difficulty in resolving consumer disputes, sounding a wake-up call to the hot blind box market.
The key to the craze of the blind box market is "blind."
The process of opening blind boxes is full of uncertainty, and curiosity, excitement, and surprise will follow.
In order to continue to satisfy this "scarcity experience", some consumers will repeatedly buy blind boxes, open blind boxes, and even become addicted.
Some merchants have spotted this point and tried their best to induce consumers to purchase impulsively and irrationally, turning the blind box into a speculative business, contributing to the rise of false fire and irrational prosperity in the blind box market.
The chaos in the blind box market is fundamentally "blind."
The blind box marketing model itself has a certain "mystery" and is easy to distort market trading rules.
In order to keep up with the popularity of blind boxes, some operators either exaggerate the value of goods, fabricate the probability of high-quality goods, or sell inferior goods and take the opportunity to clear inventory.
What's more, selling live animals in blind boxes not only poses health and safety hazards, but is also suspected of touching the bottom line of laws and regulations in health and quarantine, postal transportation and other aspects.
Some consumers said that they bought blind boxes of live animals, but they received animal carcasses. The "surprise" turned into a "fright"...All these have not only harmed the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, but also disrupted the normal market order. , Is not conducive to the healthy development of the industry.
Although the nature of the blind box is "blind", it cannot be a blind spot for supervision.
The domestic blind box industry is still in the early stages of development, and problems are inevitable.
However, if the blind box market is allowed to expand disorderly or even grow savagely, it is like opening a Pandora's box, prone to various conceivable consequences and unpredictable disasters.
The box can be opaque, the market cannot be opaque, and the issues of legality, fairness, and security must be resolved.
This requires perfecting relevant laws and regulations as soon as possible, strengthening market supervision in accordance with the law, exploring the introduction of third-party supervision mechanisms, and promptly cleaning up and cracking down on all kinds of behaviors that exceed the bottom line, so as to improve the level of blind box industry standards and let the rule of law enter this emerging market.
The healthy development of the blind box industry also depends on the establishment of a healthy interaction between operators and consumers. As far as the operators are concerned, they must not blindly pursue profit. It is necessary to earnestly abide by market rules, assume statutory quality guarantee responsibilities, ensure the authenticity of product quality information, protect consumers' right to know, and not over-market consumers' curiosity and mislead consumers' impulse consumption. For consumers, don’t be blinded by obsession. It should be recognized that the blind box has the nature of uncertainty, combined with rational consumption and moderate consumption such as its own economic capacity, consumer needs and hobbies. (Wei Yin)