Why does the vulgar marketing of "edge ball" continue to be banned
Chen Guangjiang
On March 30, "Weilong Delicious" responded by expressing its deep apology in response to the alleged vulgarity of Weilong spicy strip packaging. The company attached great importance to the opinions of netizens and consumers, and decided to stop the production of controversial copywriting packaging. Optimize layout and design.
It is not surprising that Weilong publicly apologized and announced rectification when the product packaging was accused of vulgarity and the regulatory authorities intervened in the investigation.
On March 30, the topic of "Weilong's apology" once topped Weibo's hot search list, with a total reading volume of more than 300 million people in a short period of time, which shows its attention.
Weilong's packaging is printed with words such as "Agreement" and "Tough". Is it considered vulgar?
Many netizens believe that this is a pornographic edge ball, and Weilong's accusation of vulgar marketing is not wrong.
There are also some netizens who believe that it is not appropriate to "pick words", and that the alleged vulgarity of the advertising slogan does not necessarily mean that it is illegal.
In fact, Wei Long did not admit that he was "vulgar" and "pornographic" in his apology, but emphasized that there was "controversy".
Why is vulgar marketing repeatedly banned?
In addition to factors such as "traffic anxiety" and insufficient punishment, the reason may be hidden in the word "controversy".
In the online age of "attention scarcity", expanding brand awareness is not easy, and spending real money may not have much effect.
As a result, some merchants started to think about playing the edge ball, and what's more, they regarded "don't be afraid of controversy, but I'm afraid of being ignored" and "advertising and marketing should play the edge ball" as the standard.
Playing the edge ball is a technical job, and it is also a "risk job".
Recently, the daily chemical leader Procter & Gamble was on the hot search for a tweet that said "Women's feet smell 5 times as much as men's", and the well-known sanitary napkin brand Jie Ting was criticized for causing controversy in the advertisement for "posting photos of girls wearing safety trousers and beds". Insulting women for "earning women's money".
Afterwards, both P&G and Jieting "sincerely apologize" and the incident came to an end.
If vulgar marketing incidents are often followed by apologies, I am afraid this bad trend will be difficult to stop.
Objectively speaking, it is difficult for the law to be comprehensive and detailed.
The Advertising Law stipulates that advertisements must not "obstruct social public order or violate good social customs" or "contain obscene, pornographic, gambling, superstitious, terrorist, and violent content", but these regulations are vague and general to a certain extent. The Administrative Penalty Law has added a rule of "no penalty for the first violation", so some businesses who have flirted with the ball have escaped the punishment of the regulatory authorities.
Treat vulgarity as creativity, pornography as a selling point, crooked roads as shortcuts, walk on the edge of morality and law, and sooner or later "turn over" in public. " ending.
The lessons from the past are vivid in my mind, and I advise some brands to keep a little more memory, and don’t take chances and be clever, otherwise they will only destroy their image.
To curb the phenomenon of vulgar marketing that is rubbing the ball, the relevant departments should promptly "brighten their swords", the warnings should be warned, and the heavy penalties should be punished.
In addition to severe punishment in accordance with the law, it is necessary to further clarify the bottom line and boundaries of commercial marketing. For example, the regulatory authorities regularly publish specific cases, the judicial organs strengthen the interpretation of laws by cases, and the news media give full play to the function of public opinion supervision, and promptly show businesses a relatively clear bottom line, "Red line", so that they dare not, can't, and don't want to hit the edge ball.
It is worth noting that the main consumer groups of Weilong's products are primary and secondary school students. This kind of vulgar marketing of eroticism is far-reaching. For this, the whole society must maintain a "zero tolerance" and high-pressure attitude.
Comics/Chen Bin