False "grass planting notes" overdraw the economic trust foundation of "grass planting"—

  Clarify the boundaries and plant real "grass"

  Our reporter Zhang Xue

  I followed the "Grass Planting Notes" to buy, buy, buy, but found that it was not the case when I got it; according to the blogger's recommendation, I went to the far place where I was "planted" with longing, but I encountered a strong "seller show" and "buyer show" Contrast... False grass planting and other behaviors not only mislead people's consumption decisions and damage consumers' legitimate rights and interests, but also overdraw the trust foundation of the "grass planting" economy.

  The Internet buzzword "planting grass" refers to the behavior of sharing good things on the Internet platform to make others have the desire to consume.

  Nowadays, "planting grass" is affecting more and more people's consumption habits.

A 2021 survey by the China Youth Daily Social Survey Center shows that before shopping, 82.6% of respondents will search for relevant "grass planting" recommendations.

"Grass" is planted a lot, and "weeds" inevitably grow savagely among them.

According to the survey, 78.2% of the respondents had the experience of being "planted grass" on the Internet.

  Recently, relevant departments have continuously strengthened the supervision of "grass planting", and online platforms have also frequently taken action to control their own content problems. Experts have called for the improvement of relevant laws.

With a multi-pronged approach, can "planting grass" clarify the boundaries and make it more standardized and orderly?

  Why "planting grass" is attractive

  After "00", Deng Xueer worked in a Shanghai Volkswagen 4S store in Chaoyang District, Beijing. She said that she is a typical mobile phone dependence disorder. Collect it and look for opportunities to 'pull the grass'." She said that compared with the "high above" endorsements of celebrities, the sharing of "experts" is sometimes more likely to make people feel immersed and generate the urge to consume.

  Why do young consumers who grew up in the Internet age like to follow the recommendations of online platforms to check in?

The reason is that the "notes" issued by bloggers from the perspective of ordinary people are often richer, more interesting, and more eye-catching than official official platforms.

As the core content of such "notes", pictures and videos are more intuitive than text, and are easy to "itch".

  Zou Deqiang, who teaches in the Department of Marketing of the School of Management of Fudan University, said that behind the "grass-growing" economy is the change in the way people collect information when making consumption decisions. Advertising on public media. With the development of social media, ordinary people are starting to speak out online, this 'fair' source of information is easier to understand, and consumers are more willing to be influenced by this kind of information."

  The Internet allows people in different regions to get acquainted, and forms various communities according to the characteristics of the group, and "planting grass" in the community has achieved the commercial value of some platforms.

Xiaohongshu, founded in 2013, is a typical representative. Users share their own consumption experience to trigger community interaction, thereby promoting other users to consume in reality, and these users will in turn become people who "plant grass".

In November 2021, Xiaohongshu officially announced that monthly active users will reach 200 million.

The growing user base allows brands to target this huge traffic pool.

Brands such as Perfect Diary have successfully "out of the circle" with this kind of community, and their sales have risen steadily.

By the end of 2020, more than 650,000 brands have settled in Xiaohongshu.

The "planting grass" platform has become an important channel for brand marketing.

  False "planting grass" hides tricks

  However, while the platform has become an important entry point for consumer decision-making, "weeds" have also begun to grow wildly, and false marketing and other behaviors have been born.

  Searching for "planting grass" on the Internet, there are many complaints from consumers.

During the National Day holiday last year, many people followed the blogger's recommendation and went to the "Pink Beach", which was hyped by many platforms, and found that its real color was in great contrast with the publicity picture, so they complained: "No filter is pig liver color, The photos have at least 300 layers of filters.” Some consumers followed suit and bought the beauty products recommended by bloggers, and after trying them out, they reluctantly joked: “The effect is not exactly the same as what the blogger said, it has nothing to do with it. "

  The huge traffic gathered by "Grass Planting Notes" has caused some people to use their brains to use the name of "grass planting" to practice false marketing.

Some brand owners even use intermediaries to look for ordinary "experts" in the form of product replacement or cash rewards, and lay false marketing content on the platform, forming a gray industry chain of false marketing.

  The reason why people are willing to use the information on social platforms as a consumption reference is to a certain extent because they trust the objective evaluation of ordinary people, and this is precisely the foundation of the development of such online platforms.

  The foundation cannot be shaken.

Recently, a number of head platforms have stepped up the governance of their own content.

From the end of last year to the beginning of this year, Xiaohongshu continued to carry out false content management, and some consumer brands, offline institutions and merchants suspected of false marketing were banned.

  The chaos behind the "grass planting" economy has also attracted the attention of relevant departments.

Not long ago, the Cyberspace Administration of China released the ten key tasks of the "Qinglang" series of special actions in 2022, including regulating the behavior of "planting grass" in shops.

The "Administrative Measures for Internet Advertising (Draft for Public Comment)" issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation also clearly pointed out that Internet advertisements should be identifiable and enable consumers to identify them as advertisements.

The platform should improve the content screening mechanism and strictly deal with false "grass-growing" accounts.

  Guide the development of norms

  "The 'grass planting' economy has brought positive effects in many aspects." Lawyer Zhang Tao, partner of Beijing Deheng Law Firm and director of the Network and Data Research Center, said that the act of "grass planting" itself promoted healthy market competition, and consumption Consumers publish their true feelings about products through social platforms as a reference for other people's consumption. If the quality of the product or the false publicity and other problems are exposed by consumers, it will affect the brand's reputation and sales, which will effectively form an atmosphere of consumer supervision.

He believes that the most important thing at the moment is to guide the standardized development of the "grass planting" economy through a multi-pronged approach.

  Zou Deqiang said that some online platforms have unequal rights and responsibilities in the management of false "grass planting" and other behaviors. From a regulatory perspective, relevant departments can restrict platform behavior by adjusting incentive mechanisms.

"Technically speaking, platforms can try to solve the problem of fake marketing by starting with algorithms. As an enterprise, the platform must take responsibility. In the long run, it is easier for an honest enterprise to win respect." In addition, he suggested establishing an objective Third-party evaluation mechanism, "If you don't read the recommendations of 'Internet celebrities', what channels can you use to learn useful evaluation information? We need objective and fair third-party evaluations."

  Zhang Tao also believes that the platform should improve the ability to identify false "grass notes" through technical measures and deal with them.

"As for the source of the gray industry chain of 'agent writing and sending', the platform should promptly discover and report to the relevant competent authorities as required. At the same time, when conducting business cooperation and publicity, enterprises should also pay attention to the authenticity of the publicity content. Review relevant credit qualifications, build a credible environment, and make false 'grass planting' nowhere to hide."

  "Many illegal activities are actually evading the relevant regulations and requirements of the "Advertising Law" by 'planting grass'. Zhang Tao said that some "grass planting" is actually marketing, that is, by infiltrating small groups of people, constantly in the market Spread among the target population, and then gradually expand the influence of advertising and marketing methods.

In this regard, he suggested that the scope of the definition of advertising and marketing behaviors can be appropriately expanded. When the "grass planting" behavior involves commercial cooperation, the paid form can generally be defined as an advertising and marketing behavior.

"We need to further improve relevant laws and regulations, clarify the boundaries of pure sharing and advertising marketing, so as to better regulate the behavior of merchants, platforms and advertising bloggers, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers."