“我們家雞蛋最多的時候有200多個，根本吃不完，我真的希望快點把直播間關掉。”上班族閆曉憤憤地說，“因為參與了雞蛋秒殺，我爸媽每天雷打不動地上直播課，買回近萬元沒法確定品質的東西，實際上花的錢不知道能買多少個雞蛋了！”
Recently, some readers reported to the Shanghai rumor refutation platform that they received "50 yuan seconds to kill eggs" flyers near the community, ranging from "0 yuan 0" to "0 yuan 0", and I don't know what "routines" these flyers have.
The reporter's investigation found that behind the "1 yuan second kill eggs" is a consumption trap carefully designed for middle-aged and elderly people, which has appeared in many places across the country. Many middle-aged and elderly people have paid tens of thousands of yuan or even hundreds of thousands of yuan for "0 yuan seconds to kill eggs".
"It's not that the elderly can't join the group"
"After my parents received a flyer near their home that '30 yuan kills 0 eggs in seconds', they became obsessed with live shopping." Yan Xiao's parents' home is in Zhejiang, and after killing eggs in seconds, the response party asked to register identity information and joined the WeChat group.
The reason why the old couple are willing to go to the live broadcast room to listen to the class after getting the eggs is because the other party said that they can not only get cash red envelopes but also get free eggs by checking in the live broadcast room every day. The eggs did come back, but there were more and more goods to buy in the class, and recently I bought two "pearl necklaces", each with more than 1000 yuan.
What kind of live broadcast makes the elderly want to stop? The reporter planned to experience it for himself, and asked Yan Xiao to get the live broadcast link on the grounds that "friends want to get eggs and buy things for the elderly at home". Unexpectedly, the old couple refused: "Don't want to expose the live broadcast room, don't let us continue to receive eggs, right?" ”
"Even if the link is given to you, you may not be able to get in." Beijing consumer Chaxin sent the reporter a few screenshots of the failure to enter the live broadcast room, "My mother bought tens of thousands of yuan, she didn't give me the link, I secretly copied the link to my mobile phone, and found that I needed to enter a password to see it." I took a chance to look at her phone again, and I realized that the password was different every day, and it was posted in the WeChat group. To join the group, you must pass offline certification, that is, when you 'receive eggs'. ”
It seems that if you want to know the secrets of the live broadcast room, you still have to "get eggs".
Some readers provided clues that there were many shops near Songjiang Huancheng Road in Shanghai that had carried out the "1 yuan second kill egg" activity, and the reporter decided to try his luck at the scene. When I visited, I didn't see a store that publicly advertised "0 yuan to kill eggs", but one resident said: "From time to time, someone will hand out flyers and tell you where to get them." Another community security guard said: "You have to come early in the morning, there are many elderly people in the morning." He added another reminder: "You have to take classes to get eggs, are you sure you want to get it?" ”
After the guidance of enthusiastic residents, the reporter finally found several businesses that had distributed eggs, but the "eggs" all ended in failure.
The general of the grocery store named "X.X. Preferred" guards the door, and the glass door is pasted with a reminder of "pick-up time 4:0-0:0, 0:0-0:0". Looking inward, you can see that next to the door are two desks, and a QR code is printed on an A0 paper on the table; On the inside are two shelves with items that resemble milk powder cans. The reporter scanned the code through the glass door and jumped to an online store called "China Specialty Channel", which mainly sells daily necessities and food. However, the product only has the name, specifications, and price, and there are no details, so it is difficult to judge whether the product is worth buying from the page introduction. Moreover, the platform where the store is located cannot be verified, and it is not a common e-commerce platform.
Another "X.X. Premium Product" store with the words "Community Group Buy" on its signboard was also confirmed by residents to have distributed eggs, and there were several plates of loose eggs on the table near the store's door, and there was no price marked. The clerk denied it, saying that he was just an ordinary grocery store. But this shop doesn't look ordinary - the lighting is not good, but the lights are not on; The shelves are spaced very well, and there are not many items on sale; The clerk was very wary of seeing that the consumers were not enthusiastic.
Only one store named "X.X. Nutrition" admitted that when it opened, it was to solicit residents to participate in group buying, and distributed eggs, "We are an online group purchase pick-up point, and we do not deliver to our door, nor do we sell them on the spot." The consumer places an order in the live broadcast room, and we pick up the goods here. At the scene, it can be seen that the commodities to be picked up are mostly rice, flour, grain and oil, snacks, and daily necessities.
The reporter hoped to join the WeChat group of the small store and watch the live broadcast to place an order on the grounds of "helping the retired mother at home buy things", but was rejected by the clerk: "We do not accept young people, only for the elderly." You can ask your mother to come to the store to sign up, and after she places an order, you can take her mobile phone to the store to pick up the goods. ”
It is difficult for reporters like the elderly to join the live broadcast group through offline channels, however, through offline visits, the reporter determined one thing: "1 yuan seconds to kill eggs" is to screen out the elderly who can watch live broadcasts online and place orders online.
What the hell is in the live broadcast room
What secrets are hidden in the live broadcast room where young people are not welcome? After several twists and turns, the reporter finally "lurked" into some of the live broadcast rooms. They are very different from common live shopping -
First, these live broadcast rooms are not on common e-commerce platforms or short video platforms, but on private domain live broadcast platforms such as Weizan and Little Goose, which are only open to specific groups. Ordinary consumers can not see any live broadcast when they log in to these live broadcast platforms, and can only enter the live broadcast room after clicking on the live broadcast link sent by the target or even entering the password.
Second, the live broadcast is not all about introducing products, but in the name of "X.X. Lectures" and "X.X. Health Status Lines". The anchor appears as a "conscientious entrepreneur", "authoritative expert" and "beneficiary".
Third, the live broadcast content is suspected of false propaganda and misleading consumers.
例如，微讚平臺上名叫“新之源量子生活館”的帳號在4月13日舉辦了一場“《科學保護牙齒》科普講座”。主播在介紹口腔衛生知識的同時，推銷了一款“丁硼牙膏”，表示它能治療各種口腔疾病。主播還說，該牙膏是“消”字型大小，與普通牙膏不一樣。“為答謝老年消費者”，原價99元2支的牙膏直播間售價為99元6支，可以用一年。
But after checking it, the reporter found that the anchor was not promoting toothpaste at all - to be precise, there was no boron butadiene toothpaste on the market. The standard name of this kind of commodity is "boron-butadiene cream" and "buty-boron oral antibacterial cream", etc., because it contains eugenol, borax and other ingredients, it is an over-the-counter drug that can only be produced and sold with a health license, so it is a "elimination" name.
Boron butadiene cream should be used under the guidance of a doctor to assist in the treatment of oral diseases. If it is used for a long time or replaces toothpaste, it is harmful to health: it will destroy the balance of the microecology in the mouth; In the worst case, drug resistance develops and leads to the accumulation of borax in the human body, affecting organs such as the liver and kidneys.
It can be seen that the live broadcast in the name of "popular science lectures" is actually spreading "pseudoscience" that endangers health.
For another example, the account named "Gu Yuchen's live broadcast room" on the Weizan platform has several live broadcasts for consumers in different regions every day, introducing products such as allinine, probiotics, and organic vegetables. On 11/0, its live broadcasts to consumers in Shanghai and Huzhou were promoting products containing "alliin", but in different ways.
The Shanghai session mainly introduced the R&D process and efficacy value of alliin, and the content consisted of "R&D documentary" and "anchor introduction". When the anchor explained, he used many cases of celebrities and ordinary people dying of illness and early death, emphasizing that "there is environmental pollution at the moment, so you have to eat alliin".
There are several sections in the live broadcast room of Huzhou, such as "consumer appearance" and "host interview with developers". In the "Statement" section, a number of "consumers" told about the miraculous effects of alliin consumption for themselves and their families, such as the husband who was cured of cancer, the daughter with nodules who lost her knots, and the grandson who was studying no longer caught a cold......
However, no matter which live broadcast, the anchor or host never mentioned whether the alliin they promoted was food, health products or medicines.
Even so, the relevant propaganda has been suspected of violating the law. Because according to the advertising law, food and health products must not involve disease prevention and treatment when they are advertised; When promoting the therapeutic function of the drug, it must strictly follow the content of the instructions approved by the regulatory authorities; Food, health products, and medicines must not be publicized in the form of "showing up and saying" by consumers.
Fourth, the live broadcast room increases stickiness through forms such as "punching in", "answering questions", "red envelopes" and "lucky draws".
In the "X.X. Nutrition" store in Songjiang District, the reporter met Aunt Bai who came to pick up the goods. She has placed an order nearly 20 times on the "China Specialty Channel", and recently bought 0 more products, including "Agate Bracelet" and "China CK Graphene Magnetic Therapy Antibacterial Underwear".
Aunt Bai said that one of the reasons why she watched and kept buying every day was that "there are points and red envelopes for watching live broadcasts, and if you save them, you can get a big bottle of laundry detergent in 10 days".
When the reporter watched the live broadcast, he also found that in order to verify whether the audience is "effectively watching", the anchor will ask for "instant punching", including entering specified numbers and text in the interactive box, etc., and the audience who enters the correct answer will have the opportunity to draw a lottery and get gifts.
Yan Xiao believes that this is exactly the "routine": "My parents said at the beginning that they just wanted to watch the live broadcast to earn points and receive eggs, and they wouldn't buy anything, but they were 'brainwashed' when they listened to it, and they couldn't help but buy things." ”
Cha Xin also found that although the names of the goods bought back by her mother were unknown, the "gifts" obtained by attending classes and punching in were all from big brands, "which made her feel that the live broadcast room was more formal." ”
New breakthroughs are needed in regulation
There are more traps and risks behind the "1 yuan spike eggs".
For example, some businesses use "1 yuan to kill eggs" to attract the elderly to check in and experience the "physiotherapy instrument" every day. During each "physiotherapy" that lasts for dozens of minutes, the clerk will introduce the health value of "physiotherapy equipment" and other products to the elderly and induce them to buy. The price of related products ranges from thousands of yuan to tens of thousands of yuan.
For another example, some stores not only register the ID card information of the elderly, but also require the elderly to take photos and brush their faces, which means that the elderly give away their personal privacy, including facial information.
Many of the younger generations of the elderly involved posted discussions on social platforms for this reason. In addition to asking about the "1 yuan second kill egg" routine, more netizens pointed out that it is necessary to remind the elderly to beware of new scams.
However, many of the younger generation's efforts to stop it seem to have had little effect. In order to dissuade his mother from buying indiscriminately, Cha Xin once reported the pick-up point, but "the pick-up point changed the store sign, and the sales continued; Then, the pick-up point was closed and it was changed to home delivery." She also tried to get close to her mother's "personal customer service", but found that the other party was very alert and did not deal with young people.
Some front-line law enforcement workers admit that it is difficult to investigate and deal with "1 yuan seconds to kill eggs": on the one hand, the products purchased by the elderly may not be illegal. For example, those "selenium-rich essence tablets" with a price of tens of thousands of yuan are clearly written on the packaging, they are just "tablet candy", and the production information is complete.
In order to circumvent supervision, some businesses also printed words such as "not for sale" and "experience pack" on product packaging, and used excuses such as "for environmental protection, paid recycling packaging" to take away the packaging from the elderly after sales, which further increased the difficulty of investigation. As for why "non-sale products" and "experience packs" are sold at high prices through the live broadcast room, the reason for the merchant is that "they are all special offerings, and ordinary people can't buy them, so they can already be earned".
On the other hand, the content of the private domain live broadcast cannot be watched back, and the screen recording and other materials are not sufficient evidence to prove the false publicity of the merchant. The purchase behavior seems to be decided by the elderly independently, not forced to buy and sell.
In addition, some elderly people do not think that there is a problem with the business or goods, but think that the younger generation is "troublesome" and "unfilial".
All kinds of signs show that the conventional supervision method is likely to fail before the "1 yuan second kill egg" routine, and a new breakthrough needs to be found.
First, the legal compliance of private domain live streaming is debatable. Why can live broadcasts with a lot of illegal propaganda content be broadcast every day? How is private domain live streaming content regulated? Does the private domain live streaming platform have censorship responsibilities? Supervision of private domain live streaming platforms should be strengthened.
Second, you can check the distribution system of the production enterprise. Why do companies print "not for sale" on product packaging? Why can't I see the products in the private domain live broadcast room in the mainstream retail channels? Does the above question mean that these products themselves are "customized" by enterprises for private domain live broadcasts?
Third, businesses and parties who are found to have violated the law should be severely punished in accordance with the law, and a "blacklist system" should be established, and once they commit another crime, the punishment will be increased. Only in this way can we put an end to the phenomenon of reappearing after a live broadcast room and a pick-up point have been knocked out, and then reappeared after a few days.
(At the request of the interviewee, Yan Xiao, Zha Xin, and Aunt Bai are pseudonyms)
Text/Ren Chong, Liberation Daily
Editor/Ni Jianing