People's Daily Online reporter Zhao Zhuqing
Not long ago, the "Internet celebrity" ice cream Zhong Xuegao was left at room temperature for 1 hour without melting, and the video of the lighter ignited suspected of not burning was widely spread on the Internet.
Subsequently, the market supervision and administration bureaus in Guangzhou, Nanjing and other places conducted supervision and sampling inspections on multiple batches of local food. The results showed that Zhong Xuegao's 5 ice creams met the national food safety standards.
So far, Zhong Xuegao's public opinion crisis seems to have come to an end, but the public's crisis of trust in "Internet celebrity" food is still unresolved.
"Internet celebrity food" frequently falls into controversy
Ice cream has become an "Internet celebrity", reflecting the continuous upgrading of consumption concepts.
Taking ice cream as an example, people's demand for it has begun to go beyond simply quenching the heat and quenching thirst, and has advanced to pursue newer tastes, healthier ingredients, and more cultural design.
In the era of mobile Internet, "net celebrity" ice cream even carries certain social attributes.
New demands create new markets.
A group of merchants keenly captured this consumer trend that pursues personalization and diversification, and quickly launched product development and marketing to quickly turn it into a selling point.
This is unreasonable.
However, if the "Internet celebrity" products are constantly "introducing the old and bringing forth the new", the content of the products cannot keep up with the pace of marketing innovation and the expectations of consumers, and it is not surprising that they are deeply mired in controversy after becoming popular.
In recent years, there have been many cases of "Internet celebrity" food "overturning".
Only high-end pricing, no matching "worth"; only loud popularity, no public recognition.
For example, in May 2021, individual stores of Michelle Bingcheng were exposed to have tampered with the date labels of Kaifeng ingredients, and illegally used ingredients such as overnight ice cream, tea soup, milk tea, etc.; Shelf life, use expired ingredients; in January 2022, Lai'an County Xiaolongkan Hotpot Restaurant purchased food ingredients that did not meet food safety standards and was officially notified...
Some "net red" foods are only for "eyeballs" and have adopted excessive production and marketing methods.
Such as gold-leaf cakes, gold-leaf coffee and other "gold-plated" foods.
These products are not only unhealthy, their behaviors are also suspected of breaking the law.
Another example is "laundry liquid milk tea", because the packaging is similar to laundry liquid, and it will mislead children if it is questioned by consumers.
What's more, sneaking into the market under the guise of "Internet celebrity" food is extremely confusing.
According to CCTV's "Economic Information Network" column, a "net celebrity" drink that claims to be "non-alcoholic" will feel "light and fluffy" after drinking it.
In response, public security organs in many places have successively issued early warning information, pointing out that the "Internet celebrity" drink contains a class of psychoactive drug "gamma-hydroxybutyric acid" in China, which is a new type of drug.
How can "Internet celebrity" food become popular?
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2021, the national online retail sales will be 13,088.4 billion yuan.
Among them, the online retail sales of physical goods was 10,804.2 billion yuan, an increase of 12.0% over the previous year, accounting for 24.5% of the total retail sales of social consumer goods; among the online retail sales of physical goods, food, clothing and consumer goods increased by 17.8% respectively , 8.3% and 12.5%.
From the statistics, it can be seen that behind the endless emergence of "Internet celebrity" food is the change in Chinese consumption patterns.
The reason why some "Internet celebrity" brands can grow rapidly is precisely because they meet the consumer needs of the new generation. In the long run, the growth potential cannot be ignored.
The survey shows that the field of casual snacks, which has produced many "net red" foods, is still a "blue ocean".
According to data from iiMedia Research, the per capita consumption of casual snacks in the United States in 2019 was the highest at 860 yuan, followed by the United Kingdom at 742.1 yuan; the per capita consumption of casual snacks in China in 2019 was 75.3 yuan.
Compared with the European and American markets, my country's per capita snack food consumption has a large room for improvement.
Nevertheless, it is not easy for "net red" food to achieve "long red".
Irrational "face consumption", "exotic consumption" and "inducing consumption" are often "popular" after the "popular".
"People's Daily" once commented: "Internet celebrity" economy has a strong sense of the times and has broad prospects.
Only by calibrating the beacon of value, improving professional standards, strengthening industry self-discipline, and committed to bringing better products and experiences to consumers, can the "Internet celebrity" economy achieve rapid development and create greater economic and social benefits.
It can be seen that the marketing method is only a trick, it is a "skill", and the quality and price are the internal strength and the "dao".
Only by attaching equal importance to both moves and internal strength, and the harmony between "skill" and "dao", can we tear off the short-term label, truly win market recognition, and thus establish a real "Changhong" brand.