In recent years, people can often get a variety of health care products from WeChat and Weibo. These so-called "online celebrity health care products" are beautifully packaged and have different functions, ranging from losing weight to regulating immunity, from relieving fatigue to improving sleep, and the effects are also amazing. So where do these so-called "online celebrity health products" come from? Is it really as good as advertised?
At present, in the circle of friends and some e-commerce platforms, the sales of health care products are very hot, and many people have bought these so-called "online celebrity health care products".
The reporter randomly searched the health food on the Internet and found that it was really varied and had different functions. A lactoflavin, which promotes that you can lose 17 pounds after taking it for one month; A cellulose, which claims to enhance children’s immunity after taking it; A moonlight whitening pill said that pure Chinese medicine ingredients can whiten and lighten spots. However, on the website of the State Food and Drug Administration, there is no record information of these health foods at all, and these are not regular health foods. Police in many places across the country have also seized a large number of three-no health care products without formal manufacturers, accurate production dates and quality testing.
Chen Gang, deputy head of the food and drug and environmental crime investigation detachment of Nantong Public Security Bureau, Jiangsu Province, said that so far this year, 160 food and drug cases have been cracked and 326 suspects have been arrested. Cases of selling "Three No-Health Foods" on the Internet have shown a high incidence.
Recently, Nantong Public Security Bureau cracked a case of inter-provincial sale of three-no-health food through the Internet, and destroyed a production den hidden in a farmhouse. Workers work in this den during the day and live here at night.
According to the police investigating the case, most of these three kinds of health care products are dirty and messy, and the formula is similar, which has remained unchanged for many years. Sun Moumou, a manufacturer of Sanwu health care products, introduced a classic formula of sexual health care products that has been circulating in the industry for many years.
According to the manufacturer of three-no health care products, the formula for making these sexual health care products has not changed for many years, either adding sildenafil to starch or adding silex to starch. So is it harmful to human body to take the health care products made according to this formula? The manufacturer Sun Moumou argued: "Like high blood pressure and heart disease, if you eat it in your stomach, there is no reaction. After eating it in your mouth, you can immediately solve it by drinking cold water."
Silex and sildenafil, two raw materials, are prohibited by the state in food. This kind of medicine is not as all is forgiven as he said. Patients with hypertension, heart disease and renal insufficiency will cause arrhythmia and other problems after taking this kind of medicine.
Not only the formula of this kind of sexual health food has remained unchanged for many years, but also the formula of the three slimming health food has been similar for many years. Not long ago, when Ms. Zhang was brushing her circle of friends, she saw an advertisement for a weight-loss product, claiming that it could accelerate the metabolism of the body on the basis of removing toxins from the body. However, after Ms. Zhang ate it for a while, she suffered from liver and kidney function damage.
Subsequently, the reporter sent this online celebrity slimming product to Nantong Food and Drug and Environmental Crime Investigation Detachment for inspection. The test found that this weight-loss product contains sibutramine, a drug prohibited by the state.
Fan Yaohui, deputy director of Nantong Food and Drug Administration, said: "Sibutramine has the effects of excitement and food inhibition, which may cause serious side effects such as elevated blood pressure, increased heart rate, anorexia, insomnia and abnormal liver function. Because sibutramine is relatively cheap, it has been repeatedly added to diet foods by criminals. "
It turns out that these amazing weight-loss products boasted by these functions are just sibutramine mixed with starch. In fact, many three-no-lose-weight health foods adopt this formula all the year round. However, the formula of the three-no health foods with different functions on the market is mostly "illegal drugs mixed with flour".
This formula of "flour+illegal drugs" has been used for many years and is not new. But why are these three-without-health products transformed into "online celebrity explosions" after many years, and their sales are extremely hot? One of the reasons is that they are constantly changing to meet the needs of consumers.
Maca health care, Shenbao tablets and probiotics are popular in the market, so they develop similar three-no products.
However, it is not enough to cater to the market demand. In order to turn these three-no health products into "online celebrity health products", it is necessary to use anti-counterfeiting to confuse the fake with the real.
Step 2: Make anti-counterfeiting to confuse the fake with the real.
In order to further gain the trust of consumers, some "three no" health foods have fabricated approval numbers by imitating regular health foods.
At this time, Sanwu health care products only look like real health care products, which is far from the expensive "online celebrity health care products". If these Sanwu health care products want to sell at a higher price, they need to make exquisite packaging and "foreign flavor" identity.
The exquisite packaging is also to set off the identity of the so-called "imported health care products". Some health products claim to come from Germany and the United States, but they are actually produced in small workshops in rural areas. As long as Sanwu health care products have been transformed in this way, their value has increased several times. A box of Sanwu health care products costing 3 yuan money can be sold for more than 70 yuan in one turn.
In this way, after layers of packaging, the three-no health care products produced in small workshops have become expensive "online celebrity health care products", and if you really want to sell these "online celebrity health care products", you have to promote them through advertising.
Yang Moumou, a second-level salesperson with the net name of "Huichuntang Batch Medicine", updates these health care products advertisements almost every day in his circle of friends, and sometimes even updates a few a day. According to him, the faster the advertisement is updated, the more customers you know, and the better the sales volume will naturally be.
Attracting consumers’ attention is only the first step in advertising. For these so-called online celebrity health foods, if people want to buy them with confidence, they have to blow more functions and ingredients.
A slimming health product claimed to be from Thailand, in which sibutramine is obviously banned, but the ingredients list says "seaweed powder", "green tea extract", "vitamin C" and "chitosan", and the corresponding efficacy is clearly marked after each ingredient, even the advertising language says "pure natural plant extract" and "safe without side effects". The effect of these advertisements is really good. The reporter searched this slimming product on an e-commerce platform and found that many online stores are selling it. I clicked on one of them and saw that the monthly sales reached more than 200.
Originally, it was a three-no health care product. After getting a beautiful package, adding an incomprehensible foreign language description, labeling it as genuine anti-counterfeiting, making up a false approval number, and then advertising and publicity, a "online celebrity health care product" was born. For many ordinary consumers, they simply can’t tell which are regular health care products and which are three-no health care products.
Regular health food is marked with the approval number of health food and the health food mark. Whether it is domestic health food or imported health food, you can find the health function, functional components, main raw materials and other information of health products on the website of the State Food and Drug Administration, but many consumers are unaware of it, which makes some unscrupulous merchants take advantage of it.
In recent years, criminal cases related to health food have generally shown an upward trend. In 2015, there were 432 first-instance judgments, 564 in 2016 and 741 in 2017. And the network has become a new channel for the sale of these three-no-health foods. After layers of packaging, these "three-no" products have transformed themselves into WeChat groups and friends circle, and become expensive "online celebrity health products". After eating these health care products, it is not effective to spend money for nothing. What is even more terrible is that spending money also eats your health. What should we do?
The regulatory authorities have the responsibility to strengthen network data monitoring and intensify the crackdown. Internet companies have the responsibility to manage their own platforms and prevent drugs and counterfeit and shoddy products that are explicitly prohibited by the state from circulating freely on the platforms. As consumers, we are also responsible for our own health. We should be careful about the sales promotion of our circle of friends. The more we blow it, the more we should polish our eyes.
