Red baked steamed bread with lobster, brown fried pork intestines, golden pineapple rice ... Seeing these food pictures, Zou Kai from Hedong District, Tianjin not only has no desire to "punch in", but is a little queasy, because the high saturation color makes the food look too fake.

In addition to color distortion, Zou Kai also noticed that more and more stores are using exaggerated containers to pack food, such as coconut water in 8 kg barrels, milk tea in infusion bags, noodles and crayfish in pickle jars.

"Why do food recommendation pictures always use filters? Is the strange packaging or container compliant? " Zou Kai was puzzled.

Like Zou Kai, there are many people who don't understand the phenomenon of excessive food promotion. The reporter of "Rule of Law Daily" recently searched on several food recommendation platforms and found that many consumers vomited, and they were attracted by promotional pictures or copywriting. As a result, the food they ate was seriously inconsistent with the pictures and texts.

several interviewed experts pointed out that when food pictures or copywriting are of an advertising nature, it may be suspected of false propaganda if the food eaten by consumers is far from the pictures. It is suggested that stores should operate in good faith and abide by the law, improve food quality and service quality, and let consumers get real benefits and good consumption experience.

Carefully retouching and recommending food

Exaggerated packaging attracts attention

Reporters searched for "food" on social platforms and local life platforms, and found that most of the top ranked photos were recommended food with high saturation and filters. It is not difficult to see that these photos have been carefully composed and retouched.

Some bloggers make food sharing look like material storage, and every corner in the photo is full of food. In order to show the weight of food, some bloggers use large plastic transparent handbags to pack food, such as thumb fried bags, which can hold one or two hundred, with the text "One bite when shopping"; Other bloggers use infusion bags of milk tea, plastic barrels of seafood, kimchi jars of noodles and crayfish to attract attention ...

Does this food packaging meet the requirements of laws and regulations? According to Ren Chao, a professor at the School of Economics and Law of East China University of Political Science and Law, the food safety law requires that food producers and operators should meet food safety standards, and the food that is directly imported should be effectively packaged or used with non-toxic and clean packaging materials and tableware. Judging from many food publicity pictures, there may be some security risks in related food packaging.

Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of china law society Consumer Protection Law Research Association, told reporters that if these food packages are just "exotic" or "special" in appearance, it is hard to say that they violate existing laws and regulations. However, if it is over-packaging or leads to food waste, it may violate the relevant provisions of the Consumer Protection Law and the Anti-Food Waste Law.

"The premise of diversified and personalized food promotion is that it does not violate existing laws and regulations, and does not cause waste of resources and food." Chen Yinjiang said.

if the food graphic is an advertisement

the picture is not true, it is suspected of violating the law

"How many times have you come to XX just to eat this bite" "Always come to XX just to eat" "Fengshen series & ceiling series" "The fat sausage is wrapped with green onions, the outside is crispy and the inside is waxy" "The taro and pineapple buns taste slippery and squeaky.

The reporter interviewed more than 1 consumers in Tianjin, Anhui and other places. They were all attracted by the food copywriting and went to the relevant stores to punch in to relieve their cravings, but they were disappointed and bluntly said that they had been "slapped in the face".

Li Peng from Chuzhou City, Anhui Province recently brushed a crayfish soup bag shop with "2 soup bags in a cage, only 3 yuan, each with a big lobster" on the food recommendation platform, and eagerly tried it. As a result, he found that there were only six soup bags in a cage, and there was no complete shrimp meat in them. That evening, he went to a hot pot restaurant recommended by a food blogger, and found that there were only two pieces of fat in the pot, and the weight of fried rice with cheese and kimchi was only a quarter of the recommended picture.

"The taste may vary from person to person, but the amount of food can't be deceiving. I don't believe in online food recommendations anymore." Li Peng said.

The reporter found that the reason why some food recommendation pictures are so numerous is that some bloggers buy multiple copies at one time and pretend to shoot one, and some bloggers bring their own ingredients to them, such as shrimp wrapped in dough, crayfish noodles, etc., but in fact these ingredients are not available in restaurants.

from the online "wine pool meat forest" to the real "leftovers", does this kind of food propaganda that is inconsistent with the actual situation comply with the relevant laws and regulations?

ren Chao analyzed that if the publicity copy is only the personal comments of consumers, consumers have the freedom to make exaggerated comments on food, but if the publicity copy belongs to advertising, it should comply with the relevant provisions of the advertising law.

"Article 3 of the Advertising Law states that advertisements should be true and lawful, and express their contents in a healthy way, which is in line with the requirements of building socialist spiritual civilization and promoting the excellent traditional culture of the Chinese nation; Article 9, paragraph 3, explicitly prohibits the use of such terms as' superlative' and' best' in advertisements. Therefore, when the food propaganda copy is of an advertising nature, the terms' most' or' deity' and' ceiling' should not be used. " Ren Chao said.

Chen Yinjiang believes that when the food copy is an advertisement, if the food bought is far from the picture, it may be suspected of false propaganda.

"according to the law on the protection of consumers' rights and interests, business operators should provide consumers with true and comprehensive information about the quality, performance, use and expiration date of goods or services, and must not make false or misleading propaganda. If the goods advertised by the merchants are inconsistent with the reality, consumers can ask the merchants to bear civil liability for compensation according to law; If a merchant deliberately deceives consumers through false propaganda, it may also constitute fraud. Once it is found to constitute fraud, consumers can claim compensation of three times the price. " Chen Yinjiang said.

Food publicity indicates advertisements

Protecting consumers' right to know

Whether food promotion is an advertisement or not is difficult to determine in reality.

The reporter noticed that some food recommendations on social platforms did not indicate that they were advertisements, and even some bloggers would emphasize that they were "not widely recommended". The reporter also tried to complain about these food recommendations to a number of related platforms, but they were rejected because they could not judge whether there was any illegal content.

Ren Chao mentioned that it is difficult for consumers to distinguish soft advertisements in reality. Member States of the European Union have asked Instagram software to clearly indicate whether videos and copywriting involved in promotion contain advertisements, and there are similar provisions in China's advertising law. Therefore, when advertising, advertisers, producers and operators have the obligation to show consumers that they are advertisements, so as to distinguish them from other information and not to mislead consumers.

"It should be noted that for mass media, including the Internet, advertising should be clearly marked with' advertising', not just' cooperative promotion',' cooperative publicity' and' just meals', and the word' advertising' should be prominent." Ren Chao said.

the experts interviewed believe that consumers, platforms and relevant departments can exercise their rights and regulatory obligations in the face of this abnormal food promotion, whether it is advertising or not.

"Article 1 of the Food Safety Law stipulates that any organization or individual has the right to report violations of this law in food production and operation, to obtain food safety information from relevant departments, and to put forward opinions and suggestions on food safety supervision and management. At the same time, Article 94 of the Law refers to the advertising law for making false propaganda on the food quality in advertisements to deceive consumers. In the face of exaggerated and wonderful food promotion, consumers have the right to know the truth and report to Internet service providers and market supervision and management departments. After receiving the relevant notice with the preliminary certificate, the Internet service provider shall take necessary measures in time, such as deletion and removal. " Ren Chao said.

In Chen Yinjiang's view, wonderful food promotion may indeed have a certain publicity effect in the short term, but in the long run, it will not only fail to bring consumers a good consumption experience, but also hit the face of the enterprise, affecting the positive image of the brand, and may even be suspected of violating existing laws, regulations, public order and good customs, making the enterprise bear unpredictable consequences.

"It is beyond reproach for enterprises to carry out normal marketing activities, but the premise is that they must abide by laws and regulations, observe public order and good customs, and do not harm the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. Enterprises should operate in good faith and abide by the law, focus on improving product quality and service quality, and let consumers get real benefits and good consumption experience, so as to truly enhance brand reputation and promote the healthy development of enterprises. " Chen Yinjiang said.