Do you believe it No.15 May 17th 18:46

"No. 1 in satisfaction" and "No. 1 in reliability", "Advertisement that sings No. 1" that is often seen on the Internet and in stores these days.

How much do you believe in "No. 1"?

(Science and Culture Department Reporter Degree Akiyama / Naoro Shimada)

Investigate the No. 1 advertisement that overflows on the Internet

You'll see No. 1 ads everywhere.

In addition to signboards in the city, advertisements on trains, TV and magazines, and the Internet.

We decided to start checking the No. 1 advertisement on the Internet with the cooperation of Tomohiro Kimura, a lawyer who monitors advertisements in consumer organizations.

There were advertisements on the Internet with various No. 1 displays such as the number of product sales, satisfaction, and word-of-mouth.

What is displayed on the online shopping site.

What is posted on the company homepage.

Some are introduced on SNS.

Mr. Kimura was checking whether the No. 1 notation properly describes the grounds and investigation method.

The prize labeling law that regulates advertisements prohibits labeling that misleads consumers as if it is significantly superior to other products as "injustice labeling."

Mr. Kimura said that in the case of No. 1 advertisement, in order to prevent improper display,

▽ the displayed content is based on an objective survey, and ▽ the survey results are quoted accurately and appropriately 2 Suppose you need one.

Even if an objective survey is conducted, it may cause problems if the actual display is far from the survey results.

After investigating on the Internet for a while, there was an advertisement that Mr. Kimura pointed out that "it is a display that may mislead consumers."

It was an advertisement promoting toothpaste, which was ranked No. 1 in 14 crowns such as recommendation rating, reliability rating, and quality rating.

According to a questionnaire survey on the Internet, the target of the survey was "324 women nationwide who are worried about stains on their teeth."

Mr. Kimura said, "Quality evaluation can be read by consumers as the number one raw voice of the person who purchased it." We need to make sure. "

I believed in No.1 and bought it

This advertisement was pointed out by Mr. Kimura that people who saw the advertisement might misunderstand it.

When we searched for users of this product, we found multiple posts on the net.

And I was able to talk to one of them.

The woman who bought

"When I was looking at Facebook, such articles and advertisements came out. I saw that various No. 1 such as sales No. 1 and quality No. 1 were lined up, so I got credit. I thought it was an element that could be done. "

A woman who had been interested in tooth whitening for a long time said that she decided to purchase it because she saw the word No. 1 written in many advertisements that she happened to see and thought that it was appreciated by users.

The product is 980 yen per bottle only at the first purchase.

From the second time onwards, it costs about 8,000 yen for two.

Unless you cancel the contract, the product will be sent to you.

She tried to cancel in a month, saying the woman didn't get the effect she expected.

However, the phone for her cancellation didn't connect at all, and she said she had a hard time until she canceled.

The woman who bought

"I called to cancel, but I couldn't connect immediately and the next product arrived. I was able to cancel in the end, but I called 100 times in 2 to 3 days to cancel. There was also a SNS post saying that I was in trouble because I couldn't cancel the contract, so I felt betrayed even though I bought it with confidence. "

Advertiser

An ad for this toothpaste that was shown to have won 14 No. 1.

What was the survey that was the basis for No. 1?

We headed to an advertiser, a product sales company in Kansai.

When I applied for the interview, I was able to talk to the vice president of the company, saying that I could not accept the interview with the camera.

When asked about the grounds for No.1.

Vice President

"I got the first place in the questionnaire survey on the Internet. I asked them to choose from the ones with four product names written on them."

Next, I asked about the fact that the target of the survey was "324 people who are worried about stains on teeth coloring".

Then, in the

question item, I asked if I was worried about stains on the teeth, but I did not confirm whether I actually used the product,

▽ Answers from people who have never used it It was revealed that it was also included.

It is said that the answer of the person who does not use the product was included in the No. 1 display of 11.

It included quality evaluation, recommendation level evaluation, ease of purchase evaluation, reliability evaluation, and so on.

When we ask that it might be a problem to ask people who have never used the product about these evaluations.

Vice President

"I'm explaining what ingredients are contained in the product, and I'm doing a questionnaire about what I think is good, so I don't think there is a problem."

And if there is a misunderstanding point, I will correct it, but I answered that there is no such point so far.

In addition, he explained that the data that is the basis of No. 1 is the result of the image survey on the Internet, and that the questionnaire survey was conducted by the contracted research company.

The research company

A research company is a company that collects and analyzes the data that is the basis of the No. 1 advertisement by questionnaires, etc. under contract from the advertiser.

As I proceeded with the interview, I found that it was a research company in Kyushu that examined the No. 1 data for toothpaste advertisements.

She visited the office and talked to the president.

He asked me to give me a detailed method of image research, but the president said, "I can't answer individual cases," and I couldn't get a detailed explanation.

What is an image survey?

What is an image survey like in the first place?

I was able to hear about the mechanism from another research company that has been involved in the No. 1 survey.

Representative Yusuke Yasuki.

Image surveys are a method that has become widespread among some research companies over the last few years.

Conventional general No. 1 surveys are based on objective figures such as sales performance, market share, and product performance.

Image surveys, on the other hand, ask for subjective feelings and opinions, such as satisfaction.

It is said that subjective feelings and opinions can be easily created as No. 1 because the answer can be guided by the way of listening.

Mr. Yasuki's company says that he has never conducted such an image survey.

Mr. Yasuki

"The image survey by the site is to judge whether it is good or not just by looking at the pictures on the website, and there are some that do not actually use it. Negative impression when looking at the site I don't have that much, and I can create a website as beautifully as I want. Therefore, there is a risk that there will be a gap between the image and the actual service content. "

Mr. Yasuki said, "The image survey itself is not bad," and "there may be a problem with the method."

And he gave me an example of what kind of method is used to get the first place, which is done by some research companies.

It is a method of increasing the number of question items in the questionnaire.

For example, in a coffee questionnaire, you can increase the number of questions about taste, aroma, etc., and if any one of them becomes the best, you can appeal that as the No. 1 coffee.

Mr. Yasuki:

"For example, even if there are 10 items when taking a questionnaire, even if all 10 items do not become the number one, you can get the number one with just one item, or you can get a positive answer with one item. Then, we will announce that it is No. 1. "

In addition, he said that he did not compare at all, asked about the satisfaction level of his company, and heard that if 70% to 80% of the answers were positive answers, it would be described as No. 1.

Mr. Yasuki

"If you try to make No. 1, you can easily make it. A survey with known results is a very easy survey even for a research company, and there is no risk as a client (advertiser). If you can definitely get (No. 1), you can decide to place an order, so it's easy to ask. I think it's a win-win relationship. "

The method to create No.1

As I proceeded with the interview, I was able to hear from a person who was actually involved in the production of the No. 1 advertisement using this image survey.

What he taught me was how to arbitrarily "remove" the No. 1 "competitor" or "rival".

For example, suppose there is a manufacturer that makes sweets for sale in stores.

I wanted to take No. 1, but the client's product A was ranked 3rd in the first questionnaire.

In that case, replace the two products above A with different ones and take the questionnaire again.

Since the strong rivals who took the 1st and 2nd place first are excluded, the probability that A will be the top in the second and subsequent questionnaires is high.

This is repeated until A is ranked first.

In addition, even in the middle of the period when the questionnaire is being conducted, there is also a method to stop the aggregation at the moment when it reaches the first place.

Former research company male

"We take questionnaires and collect aggregates many times until we get the results we want. In that sense, if we want to falsify the data of the questionnaire as much as we want, we can falsify it. Advertisers also I don't care. "

No.1 The background of the spread of advertising is

Behind the spread of No. 1 advertising is the fact that it has become easier to conduct surveys on the Internet, says Yu Taniguchi, editor-in-chief of the monthly Sendenkaigi, which is familiar with advertising and marketing.

Yu Taniguchi

"In the past, it took time, effort, cost, and time to go around houses one by one and make phone calls with a large number of people to conduct market research. Nowadays, monitors can be easily gathered online. , Both those who conduct surveys and those who answer can feel free to collect data. Companies of various sizes have also entered the research business. "

On the other hand, consumer sentiment that jumps to the No. 1 advertisement

Yu Taniguchi

"The choice of products that can be bought through online shopping has increased by an order of magnitude. Consumers have a tendency to choose safe products that are being selected by more people. When social and economic conditions become unstable as it is now, the psychology of "I don't want to fail" also works. "

In addition, the so-called poi activity (an activity to collect points that can be used for shopping etc. by answering questionnaires) is popular as a casual pocket money earner in the Korona-ka nest, but such questionnaires can also be used for data collection of No. 1 advertisement. That is.

The surveys we answered lightly may be part of the data that is convenient.

JARO also feels a sense of crisis

JARO is the Japan Advertising Review Organization, which aims to optimize advertising and display.

I have a sense of crisis about the spread of problematic No. 1 advertisements.

According to JARO, there have been 263 complaints about the No. 1 ad in the three years to March.

The most common is advertisements on the Internet, accounting for 140, which is half.

"I don't know which region is No. 1 in the region."

"Even though it is an image survey, it is displayed as if it were No. 1 in terms of" sales "and" number of users. "

" The basis for the No. 1 customer satisfaction is It's an old service five years ago, "and many question the grounds for its No. 1 label.

Mr. Shu Kawana, Secretary-General

"If there are more than a certain number of complaints, we will inform the advertiser of the content and call for changes to appropriate content as needed. It is easy for consumers to understand and is not misunderstood. "Advertising" leads to good competition between companies, but if the problematic No. 1 advertising spreads, the entire advertising industry will decline. "

Administrative sanctions are not covered by advertiser research companies

In some cases, such No. 1 advertisements and advertisers are subject to administrative sanctions.

Saitama Prefecture has taken two administrative sanctions, including a company that operated an osteopathic clinic three years ago and a tutor dispatching company two years ago, for violating the prize labeling law.

Among them, the advertisement of the osteopathic clinic appealed that it became No. 1 in three fields such as "No. 1 customer evaluation selected from patients nationwide", but the premise survey was "No. 1 customer evaluation" on the Internet. It was not a questionnaire to the customers who actually used it in the "Image Survey".

Furthermore, it is not displayed so that it can be understood, and it is said that this is a violation of the prize labeling law.

According to Saitama Prefecture, all the advertisers who disposed of it said, "I was informed by the research company that there was no problem with this display."

However, only the advertiser was punished in this case.

Saitama Prefecture Consumer Affairs Division Chief Tomomi Ebara

"The person who is responsible for the prize labeling law is defined as" the person who finally decided the display. "

Applying that, this time, the advertiser finally decided what to display, so it was only the advertiser's disposition. "

The same research company was conducting the No. 1 survey on both of the two No. 1 advertisements that Saitama Prefecture disposed of.

How do you perceive this?

When I applied for coverage with this research company, I received the following response (summary) in the text.

Research company

"We do not refuse to conduct unfair research such as unnecessarily manipulating the research method in order to obtain the No. 1 result in order to meet the intention of the requested company. Appropriateness of market research. In order to secure it, we have always been humble and have repeatedly verified the target and method of market research. We will continue to strengthen our internal system and introduce a supervision system by external experts. We will continue to improve our services and conduct fair research. "

What the No. 1 advertisement asks

In the interview, there are some words that left a strong impression on me.

It's like the cry of a mid-sized company using the No. 1 ad from an image survey.

"Since other companies in the same industry are now lining up three No. 1 advertisements, I asked a research company to display three crowns for about 1.8 million yen. I hope that the customer attraction rate will increase even by 1%. I have a feeling. I really want to stop, but I have an obsession that I should be No. 1 in the same industry. "

Now, all concerned parties, including us consumers, are required to be thoughtful not only to obtain conspicuous information that can be easily obtained, but also to maintain a sincere attitude toward research and data that forms the foundation of social trust. Isn't that the case?

Marketing research, data, and advertising expressions that form the basis of our society's trust.

I would like all concerned parties to maintain a fair stance so that they will not be distorted.

In addition, we, as consumers, are required to take a careful stance, not just relying on easily available and conspicuous information.

How much do you believe in "No. 1"?

Reporter of the Faculty of Science and Culture Joined

Akiyama

in 2012.

He worked at the Fukui Bureau and Mito Bureau before joining the Faculty of Science and Culture.

He covers online advertisements and child accidents

Naorou Shimada ,

Reporter, Faculty of Science and Culture Joined

in 2010.

He worked at the Hiroshima Bureau and Shizuoka Bureau before working at the Faculty of Science and Culture.

He is in charge of Consumer Affairs Agency and IT coverage

This issue will also be broadcast in "Close-up Gendai" from 19:30 on May 17th (Tuesday).

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