Chinanews client, Beijing, June 28 (Zuo Yukun) Nongfu Spring "overturned"!
"Nature's Porter", this time he lifted a rock and hit himself in the foot!
Recently, some netizens broke the news on social platforms that Nongfu Spring’s newly launched soda sparkling water used the words "Dawn White Peach Produced in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan" in the promotion.
And this Fukushima is the Fukushima where the nuclear leak occurred in Japan.
Image source: Nongfu Spring WeChat public account.
Taken from the white peaches of Fukushima, Japan? Nongfu Spring’s new sparkling water sparks controversy
"Dawn White Peach is produced in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan." This is an introduction to the new product "Dawn White Peach Flavor Soda Sparkling Water" in a push released by the official public account of Nongfu Spring on April 1.
In addition, the pictures reported by the media showed that the promotional materials of the product suspected to be in a supermarket also specifically marked "ATAKUTI peaches from Fukushima Prefecture".
Screenshot source: Nongfu Spring WeChat public account.
Dawn White Peach, this peach with a literary-sounding name, is the representative peach variety of Fukushima Prefecture in Japan.
"High yield, high sweetness, and big size" used to be many people's comments on it, but since the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, Baitao can no longer be labeled as "nuclear pollution" at dawn.
On the official website of the General Administration of Customs of China, Guangzhou Customs in March 2020 responded to the question "Is the ban on the import and sale of food from Japan’s nuclear radiation areas released in 2011 lifted?" 10 prefectures including Shima Prefecture, Gunma Prefecture, Tochigi Prefecture, Ibaraki Prefecture, Miyagi Prefecture, Niigata Prefecture, Nagano Prefecture, Saitama Prefecture, Tokyo Prefecture and Chiba Prefecture import food, edible agricultural products and feed.
At the same time, in the "List of Fresh Fruit Types and Exporting Countries/Regions Obtained my country's Inspection and Quarantine Access" issued by the General Administration of Customs of China on April 9, 2019, the only fruits allowed to be imported from Japan are apples and pears.
"Either it's true Fukushima or fake propaganda"
In response to consumers’ doubts, Nongfu Spring responded at noon on June 27, stating that the ingredients of the sparkling water were not imported from Fukushima, Japan.
The labeling of Nongfu Spring’s products meets the requirements of relevant laws and regulations without any error or misleading.
"Fujiao white peach originated in Fukushima. Based on the unique flavor of Fukushima peach, our R&D staff created a product similar to the flavour of Xiaoxiao peach, which has nothing to do with the origin of dawn peach." Nongfu Spring argued.
Nongfu Spring’s response to “creating taste” did not quell public doubts, and at the same time pushed itself to the side of false advertising.
Some netizens commented, "False propaganda misleads consumers, or raw materials are taken from Fukushima, you have to admit one."
On the evening of June 27, the Jiande Municipal Supervision Bureau of Zhejiang Province issued an investigation report on the source of the raw materials of Nongfu Mountain Spring Dawn White Peach Flavor Soda Sparkling Water: On June 27, 2021, the Jiande Municipal Market Supervision Bureau organized law enforcement officers to The production workshop of Nongfu Spring (Jiande) Xin'anjiang Drinking Water Co., Ltd. in Xin'anjiang Street, Jiande City, carried out an on-site inspection.
It has been verified that the raw materials for the production of Nongfu Spring’s Dawn White Peach Flavor Soda Sparkling Water are not purchased from Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.
Nongfu Spring soda sparkling water with white peach flavor at dawn.
Photo by Zuo Yukun, China News Service
"From the expression on the Nongfu Spring WeChat public account, a sparkling water has the slogan "Dawn White Peach Produced in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan" in the slogan, which means that this drink uses the white peach produced in Fukushima as the raw material." Geng Jun, deputy director of the Consumer Rights Professional Committee of the Lawyers Association, told Chinanews.com.
Geng Jun believes that after consumers questioned, Nongfu Spring responded to deny the ingredients of Fukushima's raw materials, but Nongfu Spring used Fukushima white peach as a selling point for publicity, which was obviously misleading consumers.
This move is suspected of constituting false propaganda.
Xiong Dingzhong, the chief partner of Beijing Qinglu Law Firm, also believes that Nongfu Spring’s behavior has been suspected of false propaganda.
"'Origin from' and'produced from' are two concepts. From ordinary people's understanding,'produced from' can obviously only be the place of origin. In addition to proving that the product is non-toxic and harmless, the inspection results of the regulatory agency are also false propaganda. The basis for investigation and punishment."
Xiong Dingzhong said that this incident also constituted a fraud against consumers.
According to Article 5 of the Measures for the Punishment of Acts of Violation of Consumer Rights and Interests, business operators shall not sell goods or services that have forged the place of origin, forged or fraudulently used other people’s factory names and addresses, or tampered with the production date; according to Article 16, business operators Anyone who commits one of the acts specified in items (1) to (6) of Article 5 of these Measures and fails to prove that he did not deceive or mislead consumers to commit such an act is a fraud.
Why did the tried-and-tested "origin propaganda" roll over?
A closer look at Nongfu Spring’s marketing strategy will reveal that “propaganda of origin” is its tried-and-tested routine.
From "Nongfu Mountain Spring is a bit sweet" bound to the water source of Qiandao Lake, to "Wuyi Rock Tea as the base of tea, adding Italian fresh lemon juice" tea π, to the Wuyi Mountain bubble tea mountain spring water "from the famous tea producing area Wuyi Mountain" , And "Changbaixue" which is a natural mineral water category in the 3 yuan range...Even the sparkling sparkling water that caused the controversy this time, in addition to indicating the source of the fruit, Nongfu Spring also specifically named "soda sparkling water with a source of water. From the natural water source of Nongfu Spring in Qiandao Lake, Zhejiang."
What is the sacredness of the white peach that made Nongfu Spring overturn the car on the old tricks that have been used for many years?
Unlike juicy peaches, nectarines, and flat peaches, white peaches are still a relatively unfamiliar category for domestic consumers, and the popularity of white peach flavors in China is somewhat influenced by Japanese culture.
Just like the popularity of cherry blossoms, it is pink, bright, high-valued and "girly"-Japan first began to choose white peaches in food and beverage flavors to create a lovely atmosphere. This may also be Nongfu Spring's time. The reason for "touching porcelain" Japanese white peaches.
Many net red and white peach foods are mostly from Japan.
Screenshot from the network
In the summer beverage war, the white peach flavor is a very frequent existence.
Pepsi launched the "Taiqi" series of white peach oolong flavored cola; one of Coca-Cola's AH! HA! Cosmos sparkling water is white peach oolong flavor; China Resources C'estbon’s low-concentration fruit juice drink has also added a new "Peach Peach Holiday" product , Marked as "selected high-quality domestic white peach juice in taste"...
The trend of a taste is naturally inseparable from the follow-up and copying of a large number of brands. If it is to say that it drives the trend of white peach-flavored sparkling water, one has to mention the leading brand of sparkling water, Yuanqi Forest.
When Yuanqi Forest was first launched, the red-hot flavor was white peach flavor, which also made it impossible for subsequent brands to avoid it in terms of product flavor when adopting the "follow strategy".
In fact, this is not the first time that Nongfu Spring has launched sparkling water products.
In 2020, Nongfu Spring launched a carbonated carbonated drink called "TOT", with flavors such as rice wine and grapefruit green tea.
The reason why Nongfu Spring has long deployed sparkling water can be seen in its 2020 financial report.
Nongfu Spring’s sales revenue of traditional modules will decline in 2020, but other categories such as sparkling water, coffee beverages, and plant yogurt have grown against the trend. The revenue of 1.054 billion yuan has increased by 135.8% compared with 2019, which is also a percentage of total revenue. From 1.9% to 4.6%, it is the only category that has achieved positive growth among the five products of Nongfu Spring.
But if you want to cultivate the field of bubble water, in addition to facing predators who smell the wind like you, the most difficult thing to shake is naturally the leading brand of vitality forest.
In addition to following the popular Internet celebrity flavors, Nongfu Spring has also launched a functional selling point. Based on "0 sugar, 0 calories and 0 fat", it has derived the promotion of "0 potassium sorbate".
Screenshot source: Nongfu Spring WeChat public account.
Potassium sorbate is a common food preservative, which is added in many carbonated beverages.
Nongfu Spring said in its propaganda that it "has an advanced aseptic production line, so the product does not need to add potassium sorbate."
But compared to the "0 sugar, 0 fat and 0 calories" of consumers who are afraid of fat, Nongfu Spring's "0 potassium sorbate" seems to be less grounded.
In this propaganda, Nongfu Spring took the "Pseudo-Japanese" route of Yuanqi Forest further to play the "Japanese fruit card", but did not expect to overturn the car again.
China-Singapore Microcomment: "Nature's Porter", he lifted a rock and hit himself in the foot
Under the banner of a national brand, but to take advantage of the popularity of Japanese fruits, Nongfu Spring’s difficult "choice of two" is also a warning to similar businesses.
In the past, making oneself look "foreign" through a relationship with a foreign country was a brand's tried and tested routine.
But as our cultural self-confidence is getting stronger and stronger, the moon in foreign countries is no longer rounder than in China.
Consumers are gradually maturing, and if businesses are still standing still, it is inevitable that "nature's porters" will pick up a rock and smash themselves in the foot.
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