Consumers sued Gree Air Conditioning for false propaganda.
Our reporter intern He/reporter Zhou Tao/map
On the 15th day of the first month of this year, Ms. Zhou, a consumer in Hengyang, Hunan, believed the advertisement of "World Famous Brand" in Gree Electric, but when she bought Gree air conditioner home, she found that Gree Electric had never won the honor of "World Famous Brand", but won the certificate of "China World Famous Brand Product" in the competition organized by "China Famous Brand Strategy Promotion Committee" on September 6th, 2006, which was cancelled by AQSIQ.
Ms. Zhou thinks that Gree Electric's behavior is false propaganda. With the support of her husband, lawyer Luo Qiulin, Ms. Zhou brought Gree Electric, who was suspected of false propaganda, to court, and Jackie Chan, a famous movie star, was listed as the defendant. On March 22, lawyer Luo Qiulin told reporters that the Shigu District Court of Hengyang City has filed a case and will hold a hearing on the case in early April.
Misguided by the propaganda of "world famous brand"
On March 22nd, lawyer Luo Qiulin told the reporter of Legal Weekly that on the 15th of the first month of this year (February 28th), while shopping in Chuanshan Road, Hengyang City, Ms. Zhou entered the Chuanshan Store of Suning Appliance, ready to compare various brands of air conditioners and buy them according to her own needs. After checking and comparing the performances and prices of various air conditioners, Ms. Zhou took a fancy to an air conditioner produced by Zhuhai Gree Electric Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Gree Electric") and found that the words "Gree Air Conditioning" were printed on the publicity materials, and there was also a plaque signed by the General Administration of Quality and Technical Supervision with the words "Gree Air Conditioning World Famous Brand" and "World Famous Brand" logo on it.
Ms. Zhou recalled that she was moved by the promotion of Gree Air Conditioning's "World Famous Brand" and was the endorsement of her favorite famous movie star Jackie Chan. So, Ms. Zhou decided to buy a Gree air conditioner.
Afterwards, Ms. Zhou complained to her husband about an episode in the process of buying air conditioners: Suning Appliance was at 1. On the samples of five Gree air-conditioned products, the marked price is 2480 yuan. After negotiation, Ms. Zhou bought the air conditioner at a price of 2380 yuan. However, when issuing the invoice, Ms. Zhou was surprised to find that the price marked on the invoice became 2980 yuan. Suning Appliance also refused to fulfill the promised gifts on the leaflet for various reasons.
Shopkeepers and spokespersons were sued.
Ms. Zhou's husband Luo Qiulin is a well-known local lawyer. After a detailed understanding of his wife's purchase process and a careful examination of the relevant bills, he immediately made a judgment: Gree Electric is suspected of false propaganda, and he can use legal weapons to ask him for an explanation.
As far as lawyer Luo Qiulin can remember, the country has never conducted a "world famous brand" selection, and no institution has conducted a "world famous brand" selection. So, where did Gree Electric's honorary title of "World Famous Brand" come from? Jackie Chan, as a famous movie star, why can he make image advertisements for businesses at will without censorship? Therefore, lawyer Luo Qiulin listed Suning Appliance, Gree Electric and advertising spokesperson Jackie Chan as * * * co-defendants and sued the Shigu District People's Court in Hengyang City.
Lawyer Luo Qiulin told the reporter of Legal Weekly that the court filed a case on March 9 and served a summons on him and Ms. Zhou. The case will be heard in early April.
The origin of the title of "world famous brand"
Subsequently, the reporter of Legal Weekly found that Gree Electric was not the only one who got into a lawsuit for promoting "world famous brand". At the end of 2009, Feng Hao, a consumer in Luoyang, Henan Province, took Gree Electric to court, claiming that he had misled consumers by promoting Gree Electric as a "world famous brand".
In this regard, Gree Electric indicated the source of the honorary title of "World Famous Brand": In 2005, AQSIQ issued the Notice on the Selection of World Famous Brand Products in China, which explicitly authorized the "China Famous Brand Strategy Promotion Committee" to conduct the selection, but the final awards and certificates were issued by AQSIQ.
On May 24th, 2005, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine issued the "Notice on Developing the Evaluation of World Famous Brand Products in China", namely "GQQ [2005] No.95" document, which started the evaluation of world famous brand products in China, and authorized the China Famous Brand Strategy Promotion Committee to be responsible for the specific selection, and the China World Famous Brand Selection was officially launched. This selection has been going on for three years. By the end of 2007, ten brands of * * * had won the title of "China World Famous Brand Product", and Gree brand air conditioner was one of the ten brands selected.
However, according to the information released by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, on May 5, 2009, in order to "further improve the administrative level of the quality inspection system according to law", the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine issued Announcement No.42 of 2009-Announcement on Abolishing Normative Documents, and cleaned up some normative documents. The Notice on the Evaluation of World Famous Brand Products in China was cancelled at that time, because the evaluation mechanism changed.
Gree company:
There are competitors behind the scenes.
In response to consumers' queries, Gree Electric later produced evidence to prove that Gree Air Conditioning claimed to be a "world famous brand": a copy of the "China Famous Brand Product Certificate" issued by AQSIQ and China Famous Brand Strategy Promotion Committee for Gree Air Conditioning in 2007, a copy of the "China World Famous Brand Product Certificate" issued in 2008, and a notarized certificate of the authenticity of the copy issued by Guangdong notary department.
At the same time, Dong Mingzhu, president of Gree Electric Company, told the reporter: "Because of the melamine incident in Sanlu milk powder in 2008, the selection of' China World Famous Brand' was terminated. However, it cannot be said that the' world famous brand' issued by the State Administration of Quality Supervision has expired. First of all, this honor is not once a year; Second, if' I used to be the winner of the May 1 ST Labor Medal', then I can't tell people' I am the winner of the May 1 ST Labor Medal' now? This award is not based on time, but on whether the company has real quality and leading technology. "
On March 22, Mr. Zhang, the relevant person in charge of Gree Electric, told the reporter of Legal Weekly that he had learned that Hengyang consumers sued Gree Air Conditioning, and AQSIQ sent a special letter saying that "AQSIQ will not cancel the title of world famous brand of Gree Air Conditioning." Mr. Zhang also told reporters that there are indeed many cases of consumers suing "false propaganda of Gree air conditioners" because there are competitors behind them. This competitor tried many times to be a "world famous brand", but all failed. The State Administration of Quality Supervision will award the honorary title only after multi-level assessment of many factors such as market sales. Therefore, competitors who can't get the honorary title have come up with this strategy to rectify Gree air-conditioning, hoping that the media will not be misled and used.
It can be seen that Gree Electric has indeed obtained the "China World Famous Brand Product Certificate", but can the "China World Famous Brand Product Certificate" be simply called "World Famous Brand"? Mr. Zhang, the person in charge of Gree Electric, told the reporter by telephone, "The brand awarded by AQSIQ to Gree Electric is a world famous brand. It's not just Gree Electric's publicity, but other businesses that have won the title of China world famous brand products are also using' world famous brands' for publicity. "
In this regard, lawyer Ye Xiangfeng of Hunan Yixing Law Firm believes that Article 7 of the Advertising Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) clearly stipulates that advertisements shall not have the following circumstances: using the name of state organs and state organ staff; Provisions on the use of national, superlative and best terms. (Version 16)
The Notice of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce on Stopping Publishing Advertisements with Random Rating and Sorting stipulates that enterprises are prohibited from using "China Famous Trademark", "Local Famous Trademark" and "Famous Trademark" in advertisements.
The legitimacy of the selection activities was questioned.
What is more questioned is the legitimacy of the selection. Feng Hao, a Luo Yang consumer who sued Gree Electric for false propaganda, and Du Peng, his attorney, pointed out that only the statements of relevant departments and the materials issued by Gree Electric are not enough to support his title of "world famous brand", and all kinds of certificates that he was rated as "China world famous brand product" should be issued, such as the export volume and export volume; Sales volume, sales volume and growth rate in the domestic market; The share of such products exported to the international market in the whole industry; Trademark registration in major exporting countries (regions).
As for the legitimacy of "China Famous Brand Strategy Promotion Committee", Feng Hao and his attorney Du Peng questioned the Ministry of Civil Affairs. On February 22nd, the Civil Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Civil Affairs replied in writing that "China Famous Brand Strategy Promotion Committee" was not registered in the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Feng Hao immediately asked the State Administration of Quality Supervision to give a reply, but so far there was no reply.
Du Peng, the attorney of Feng Hao, believes that "it is certain that once the organization that organizes the evaluation does not have the qualification of legal subject, the evaluation results will naturally be impossible to be legal, and will not be publicized and used in advertisements." Subsequently, Du Peng, Feng Hao's attorney, sued Gree Electric, adding AQSIQ and "China Famous Brand Strategy Promotion Committee" as defendants, demanding joint liability with other defendants. The court accepted the written application for adding the defendant.
He Dan, a lawyer of Hubei Jiansheng Law Firm, said, "AQSIQ authorized its subordinate institutions to select' China World Famous Brand Products', which is beyond the scope of administrative license of AQSIQ and has no legal basis." In his view, it is inappropriate for the administrative organs to select the so-called China famous brands and world famous brands from the perspective of product quality, and there may even be extreme cases of "fake famous brands" and "bad famous brands". "Sanlu milk powder incident is a typical case."
Insiders say that "there is an exchange of interests behind it"
In response to the controversy over Gree Electric's claim to be a "world famous brand", an advertising industry insider pointed out that once a product becomes a famous brand product or is labeled with an authoritative certification mark, even if the price doubles, it will make consumers feel that it is worth the money. At worst, it will show stronger quality and technology in similar products, and the products will naturally sell better. To this end, individual enterprises have tried their best to wear brand-name hats and hang certification marks.
Indeed, as described by experts in the industry, the reporter of Legal Weekly saw in the appliance store that some household appliances were covered with various certification marks, such as antibacterial certification, green certification, environmental protection mark certification, China famous brand and China famous brand, which made people see things in a blur.
However, people in the industry told the reporter of Legal Weekly that apart from China's well-known trademarks, national inspection-free products and industrial brand-name products, most grotesque titles in the market, such as "China's well-known trademarks", "China's famous brands" and "world's best-selling products", were bought by enterprises from some associations.
The insider also said that these associations recognize money. At present, there are many "brand evaluation", "quality evaluation" or "sales evaluation" in the home appliance industry, and enterprises can evaluate them as long as they spend money. In addition, it is quite common for the household appliance industry to use brand names beyond the scope and exaggerate publicity. Even many honorary titles that have already been explicitly invalidated are still widely used today. These enterprises use people's trust in "famous brands" to play a maze, making it difficult for consumers to distinguish between true and false.
A legal person said that the so-called "China World Famous Brand" evaluation is essentially to attach the national credit to the products of enterprises and use the word "China" to guarantee the credit of the products of enterprises. Under this guidance, enterprises have to change from market competition to the competition of buying off government departments. The selection of "China World Famous Brand" has exposed all kinds of drawbacks in the selection of famous brands led by government agencies. It is time to face up to and solve these problems. Source: Hunan TV Station-Legal Weekly