Click to read the original article for details Source: Kaiboluo Finance (ID: kaiboluocaijing) Author: Wu Jiaoying Internet-famous consumer brands have "flip-flopped" again. A "heavy hammer" from the Shanghai Consumer Council pushed the internet-famous light food brand "Pastoralism" and "Taobao's No.1 sister" Viya, who brought nearly one million GMV in a single livestream for it, into the spotlight of public opinion. On August 30, the Shanghai Consumer Council published an article stating that Pastoralism's low-fat whole wheat bread, promoted by Viya and recommended by Dingxiang Doctor, claimed to be the best-selling, but tests showed its carbohydrate and energy content exceeded the labeled values. Later, consumers pointed out inconsistencies in calculation methods with the manufacturer. The next day, the Shanghai Consumer Council published another article confirming that the product's actual carbohydrate content was 16% higher than labeled, and energy value was 31% higher, suspected of understating and mislabeling the ingredient list, deceiving consumers. A light food bread marketed as "light calories, low burden," "low fat, low calories," targeting weight-loss and fitness enthusiasts, promoted by top livestreamers and fitness bloggers, and endorsed by professional nutritionists, actually doesn't help lose weight but makes you gain weight? Public opinion exploded, and consumers who had paid for its ingredients felt "slapped in the face." In response to this incident, the brand Pastoralism responded twice. The first time, it claimed the product met standards and had third-party inspection reports. The second time, it said it would investigate the discrepancy between the two test results and suspend sales of the product. Viya's side also issued a statement saying that according to the product selection process, they had checked relevant qualifications, consumer reviews, and conducted taste tests, and would send the product for testing simultaneously, and stop cooperation with the brand. The controversial "Pastoralism" is a new consumer brand established last year, which received exclusive investment from Yuanqi Forest. It followed Yuanqi Forest's internet-famous playbook: selecting the light food track with a hundred-billion market, making low-fat health the core selling point, precisely marketing to target audiences, and heavily investing in top and vertical livestreamers' rooms. Perhaps it focused too much on marketing, losing points on product quality, which should be the foundation. This is similar to previous "flip-flops" by Yuanqi Forest, Zhong Xue Gao, and Xiao Xian Dun due to false advertising, misleading, or deceiving consumers. Besides damaging brand image, the more serious impact of repeated "flip-flops" may be consumer criticism and distrust of the entire new consumption and livestream e-commerce industry. Brand enterprises in the industry should return to their roots. Pastoralism "hammered" for mislabeling energy, Weight loss becomes weight gain? On August 30, the Shanghai Consumer Council's WeChat public account published an article stating that a Pastoralism low-fat whole wheat bread, recommended by both Viya and Dingxiang Doctor, was tested by a professional institution and found to have significantly higher carbohydrate and energy content than labeled, with the test report attached. The test results showed that the bread's actual carbohydrate content was 45.7g/100g, about 36% higher than the labeled 33.5g/100g; the actual energy content was 1060kJ/100g, 40% higher than the labeled 764kJ/100g. Pastoralism whole wheat bread packaging ingredient list and physical test report / Shanghai Consumer Council WeChat public account Once this "hardcore" revelation from an official unit spread, public opinion was in an uproar. "We fitness and weight-loss people calculate our daily energy intake precisely, but a light food bread exceeds it by so much; it's suffocating to think about," complained a consumer who had purchased the product multiple times. On the evening of August 30, Pastoralism issued a statement saying the product met relevant regulations, had undergone third-party testing for packaging labels, and raw materials had relevant qualifications. However, the brand did not directly respond to the Shanghai Consumer Council's claim about carbohydrate and energy exceeding labels. Meanwhile, science popularizers pointed out that the Shanghai Consumer Council's interpretation of the test results was not accurate. Because according to regulations, the carbohydrate content of a product can be labeled as "total carbohydrate content," including dietary fiber, or as "digestible carbohydrate content," with dietary fiber counted separately. From the packaging, this bread used the latter labeling method, dividing "total carbohydrates" into "carbohydrates" and "dietary fiber"; the Shanghai Consumer Council's carbohydrate amount did not subtract the "dietary fiber" item. In response to this issue, the Shanghai Consumer Council wrote another interpretation the next day. Using the same calculation method as the packaging, it recalculated and pointed out that the available carbohydrate value of this bread was: Total carbohydrates 45.7 - total dietary fiber 6.88 = available carbohydrates 38.8g/100g, still 16% higher than labeled; and the measured energy value was 1001kJ/g, 31% higher than labeled. Additionally, according to the test report data, its protein and sodium also did not match the labeled values, with measured values being 256% and 233% of the labeled values, respectively. Based on this, the Shanghai Consumer Council analyzed that this 85g bread claimed to have only 155 kcal per piece, but actually contained 901 kJ, i.e., 215 kcal (1 kcal = 4.19 kJ). If consumers need to limit daily energy intake to no more than 1200 calories for weight loss, according to Pastoralism's labeled intake, eating 7 pieces a day would be fine; but in reality, these 7 pieces equal 1505 calories, which not only won't help lose weight but will cause weight gain. Pastoralism's claimed calorie source for whole wheat bread / Pastoralism Tmall flagship store "On the basis of not exceeding total energy, replacing refined grains with whole grains rich in dietary fiber can help control weight," explained Ruan Guangfeng, director of the Science and Technology Department of the Food Science and Nutrition Information Exchange Center, to Kaiboluo Finance. Nevertheless, he emphasized that Pastoralism's mislabeling is indeed a violation and suspected of false advertising. According to the "National Food Safety Standard for Prepackaged Food Nutrition Labels" (GB28050-2011), there is a certain allowable error range for energy and nutrient content, for example, carbohydrates can be ≥80% of the labeled value, but energy must be ≤120% of the labeled value. From this standard, the product's labeling indeed exceeds the error range. On the evening of August 31, Pastoralism responded again, saying it decided to investigate the reasons for the discrepancy between the two test results, suspend sales of the involved whole wheat bread products, and conduct multiple batch re-inspections. Kaiboluo Finance found that the product had been removed from its e-commerce platform that night. Viya promotes, Dingxiang Doctor recommends, Who takes the blame for the internet-famous "flip-flop"? Pastoralism responded twice, but consumers still didn't "buy it": "How much did they understate? You promote 'precise calorie control,' is this how precise you are?" "I bought it because of the light calories and low fat, but it makes me fatter?" "Different test batches and production batches are not an excuse; is standardization so unqualified? Each batch has different calories, but the packaging uses the same parameters?" In fact, the reason Pastoralism caused strong consumer dissatisfaction this time is that it originally crazily marketed "light calories, low calories," "healthy, less burden," being a so-called "ingredient party" in the light food industry, with super livestreamers promoting and expert teams recommending, but the "flip-flop" happened precisely on the ingredients. This undoubtedly made the audience that was precisely "planted" feel precisely "slapped in the face." In the detailed introduction of whole wheat bread on Pastoralism's Tmall flagship store, descriptions like "light fat, light calories, light burden," "no sucrose, low fat, high dietary fiber," "lower calories, stronger satiety," "fitness coaches are cheering for it" are repeatedly highlighted. On the flagship store's homepage advertising poster, there is also a "Dingxiang Doctor recommends" label. Previously, Pastoralism and Dingxiang Doctor co-launched a whole wheat bread gift box. Pastoralism whole wheat bread with "Dingxiang Doctor" recommendation source / Pastoralism Tmall flagship store In the brand's own livestreams and cooperative livestreamers' rooms, the explanations basically revolve around this concept. Besides comprehensive livestreamers like Viya on Taobao and the couple Da Lang Gou Zheng Jianpeng & Yan Zhen on Douyin, Pastoralism's cooperative livestreamers on Douyin and Kuaishou are mostly weight-loss and fitness bloggers and nutritionists with professional backgrounds or experience, and precise follower positioning. With this "combination punch," this low-fat healthy food brand, established only last year, sold 36 million bags in 9 months, once becoming the best-selling whole wheat bread category. According to Xiaohulu big data, in the past 30 days, 1,616 livestreamers have promoted Pastoralism, with sales exceeding 10 million yuan. From May this year to now, Viya has promoted this Pastoralism whole wheat bread 9 times, and in her August 16 snack festival special livestream, the bread sold 65,600 units, with sales nearly one million yuan; on Douyin, the couple Da Lang Gou also brought over 20,000 GMV in two livestreams. Pastoralism's livestream sales in the past 30 days exceeded 10 million yuan source / Xiaohulu big data Now that Pastoralism has "flip-flopped," Viya, who brought nearly one million in sales for it half a month ago, was unsurprisingly named. #Viya's low-fat whole wheat bread understated energy# quickly became a hot search, attracting public opinion's "firepower." Viya recommending Pastoralism whole wheat bread in a livestream source / livestream screenshot Is it unfair for Viya to be criticized when the brand she promotes "flip-flops"? Zhu Wei, deputy director of the Communication Law Research Center at China University of Political Science and Law, told Kaiboluo Finance that livestreamers play two roles in livestream e-commerce: one is endorsement/advertising, the other is e-commerce sales. But regardless of the form, they need to know the product in advance. "If the product's relevant qualification materials pass review, advertising it is fine, but at the sales level, if the promotion does not match reality, it involves fraud and other issues." Specifically in this incident, he believes that livestreamers, including Viya, should bear joint liability. Cui Lili, director of the E-commerce Research Institute at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, said that Viya, who promoted this product, should apologize to consumers; whether compensation is needed depends on consumers' evidence and claims for damage. In the early morning of September 1, Viya's MCN Qianxun also responded, saying that before going live, according to the product selection process, they checked the relevant qualifications of Pastoralism's product, consumer reviews, and conducted taste tests, and the contract stipulated that the brand's products must comply with national regulations and be responsible for the authenticity and legality of corresponding qualifications. They suggested the brand self-inspect and self-correct, and they would also send the product for testing simultaneously and stop cooperation with the brand. "Products that have passed review and inspection still 'flip-flop'; such things are indeed hard to prevent." But Cui Lili emphasized that livestreamers must be more cautious in product selection, fully understanding whether products meet relevant standards, whether brand promotions are reliable, and whether livestream explanations match reality. **"Flip-flops" continue, **Internet-famous brands and livestream e-commerce are being ruined Compared with livestreamers, brand enterprises are clearly the main responsible parties in this "mislabeling" incident. The Shanghai Consumer Council also emphasized in the article that food nutrition labels are an important guarantee of consumers' right to know; understating and mislabeling is not only dishonest behavior but also irresponsible to consumers. "If enterprises do not label according to actual conditions, the market will default that every enterprise has potential dishonesty, which will greatly increase business costs and reduce efficiency," Cui Lili admitted. This is not the first time an internet-famous new consumer brand has "flip-flopped" in ingredient marketing. In April this year, Yuanqi Forest, which long touted "zero sugar, zero fat," apologized for misleading consumers by labeling "0 sucrose" on its milk tea products and promoting "drinking won't make you fat," changing the label to "low sugar." Another internet-famous brand, Xiao Xian Dun bird's nest, was also penalized for false advertising because 10 indicators promoted on its product parameter page, such as ready-to-eat bird's nest raw materials, dry bird's nest content, product origin, and food additives, did not match the actual situation. In June this year, Zhong Xue Gao, which sparked controversy for high pricing, was found to have falsely claimed bulk/grade-one red grapes as premium, and tea leaves from multiple varieties like Jukeng, Longjing, and Soba as Japanese Soba tea, and was fined for publishing false advertisements. Coincidentally, Pastoralism, which also "flip-flopped" on ingredient content this time, belongs to Hangzhou Light Food Attention Health Technology Co., Ltd., which received investment from Yuanqi Forest at the end of last year, with a 20% stake. Yuanqi Forest holds 20% of Pastoralism's parent company source / Qichacha Looking back at Pastoralism's "history of rise," it indeed deeply understands Yuanqi Forest's internet-famous playbook: targeting the growing health diet demand of young consumers, it chose the light food meal replacement track with a hundred-billion market scale. Then tell a story that makes the target audience crazy, emphasizing "from raw materials to ingredients, we pursue less burden"; finally, fully deploy online traffic, with super livestreamers promoting, contracted nutritionists 'endorsing,' fitness bloggers planting grass, forming a chain of marketing. "New consumer brands have to some extent captured the public's upgraded consumption demands, such as low sugar, low carbs, high protein, and quality raw materials," Cui Lili believes that being able to capture segmented market demands for product innovation is itself commendable. But some new consumer brands, while running fast, focus on marketing, and the 'goods' don't match the 'board' of promotion, and the 'board' is the foundation. For these internet-famous brands, a "flip-flop" may not cost much. For example, Xiao Xian Dun had up to 10 illegal facts but was only fined 200,000 yuan; Zhong Xue Gao was twice found to have published false advertisements and was fined 6,000 yuan and 3,000 yuan respectively. The negative impact of "flip-flops" seems to be salvageable through the public relations process of "apologize-correct-continue marketing," and the short-lived black history of "flip-flops" does not affect internet-famous brands continuing to make money: During this year's 618 promotion, Xiao Xian Dun again became the best-selling in the tonic and bird's nest categories, and Zhong Xue Gao topped Tmall's ice cream bestseller list. After the incident, the brand's livestream room was boycotted by consumers source / livestream screenshot In fact, internet-famous brands repeatedly "flip-flop" due to excessive marketing and false advertising, but they are rapidly consuming consumers' trust in the entire new consumption industry and the livestream e-commerce industry it relies on. Now, when it comes to new consumption, many people perceive it as "expensive," "internet-famous," and "IQ tax"; when it comes to livestream e-commerce, they feel it's "too chaotic," "dare not buy," and "just for cheap." This Pastoralism "flip-flop" has sounded another alarm for new consumer brands: marketing and product quality should not be reversed. Internet-famous marketing may be countless '0's, but a brand and product responsible to consumers is the '1' in front. Are you "watching" me?