Avene is Punished for Weibo Statement!

Avene's affiliate Pierre Fabre (Shanghai) Dermo-Cosmetique Trading Co., Ltd. was fined 100,000 yuan after releasing a Weibo post of a product that had been verified by in vitro and clinical studies to have soothing, anti-inflammatory, and anti-irritant effects. While the supervision over illegal advertisements containing medical terms is being strengthened, how long can doctor endorsement last in cosmetics marketing?

According to the Administrative Penalty Decision (Hu Shi Jian Huang Chu [2022] No.012021001577) recently issued on the website of Shanghai Municipal Market Regulation Administration, Shanghai Huangpu District Market Regulation Administration imposed a fine of 100,000 yuan on Pierre Faber (Shanghai) Cosmetics Trading Co., Ltd. for issuing cosmetics advertisements containing medical terms on its official Weibo account ("Avene Doctor Face to Face").

When the penalties for non-compliance phenomena such as "medical terms" in marketing are increased, how long can the beauty brands continue to promote with "medical research co-creation", "dermatology expert recommendation" and "doctor endorsement" into the future?

01

Avene is Fined 100,000 yuan for Weibo Post

for an Advertisement that Contain Medical Terms

On October 20, 2021, Shanghai Huangpu District Market Regulation Administration inspected the actual business address of Pierre Fabre (Shanghai) Dermo-Cosmetique Trading Co., Ltd. (the company). It was confirmed that the reported advertisement was published in the picture and text format by the company on July 19, 2021 on its official Weibo account of "Avene Doctor Face to Face".The advertisement included content such as “Avene Thermal Spring Water has been proved by in vitro and clinical research to have soothing, anti-inflammatory and anti-irritating functions.”.

On October 20, 2021, the company deleted the advertisement content after the on-site inspection by the law enforcement officers of Huangpu District Market Regulation Administration. By the time of the incident, the reading volume of the involved post  on its Weibo account "Avene Doctor Face to Face" had reached 18,000/person-time. The above advertisement was designed, typeset, produced and published by the company independently, the advertising expenses cannot be calculated.

"The reading volume involved in the case is 18,000/person-time. From the marketing point of view, the coverage is not that broad, and the comments and forwards may only be of single digits, but the company has still been fined 100,000 yuan, which shows the intensity and determination of the regulation authorities to crack down on cosmetics violations and false advertising." A brand marketer told the CBO reporter. 

Coincidentally, according to the administrative penalty decision of the Market Regulation Administration of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (Hu Shi Jian Zi Mao Chu [2022] No.152021006228) recently released on the website of the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, Profex Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., as the advertiser, settled in Tmall Channel store on March 12, 2014 and has been running a store named Foltene flagship store. From August 30, 2018, the shampoo named "Foltene Anti-Hair Loss Shampoo (for Men)" was described on the website as having functions such as "increasing hair volume and reducing hair loss", "cleaning hair follicles, regulating oil secretion and promoting hair growth", "certification of hair growth, witness the effect of use", etc.

Profex Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. can only provide data material for clinical efficacy certification about the efficacy of this shampoo product in hair nurturing, hair follicle cleaning, oil secretion regulation, but the company cannot provide real and effective evidence about promoting hair growth. "Foltene Anti-Hair Loss Shampoo (for Men)" is an imported cosmetic for special use, which has no hair growth function. Since "hair growth" is a medical term that expresses or implies medical effects, the company was fined 110,000 yuan for the illegal use of medical terms.

In January, the "Top Ten Cases involving Advertising Regulation and Law Enforcement in 2021" released by Guangzhou Municipal Market Regulation Administration showed that Guangzhou Midou Cosmetics Co., Ltd. used its own website, WeChat official account and other platforms to publish advertisements for its products "Cleansing Double-effect Toothpaste" and "Skin-protecting Double-extraction Cleansing and Mite-removing Soap”. These products contained medical terms such as "can protect gums, relieve dentine sensitivity, bleeding and various symptoms" and "double skin-beautifying ingredients, with a mite-removing rate as high as 99%+", involving disease treatment functions and easily confusing consumers between products and medication. Having violating the provisions of the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China, Guangzhou Midou Cosmetics Co., Ltd. was fined 185,000 yuan.

02

Regulation over Illegal Marketing

 will be Gradually Strengthened fromSocial Platforms 

to Live Show Studiosand to Online Celebrities Recommendation

According to the above-mentioned brand marketer, at present, beauty brands all have opened their official brand accounts on different social platforms. While operating these accounts, they must attach great importance to the cosmetics regulations and advertising law training for their operators, copywriters and planners because they may be fined 100,000 yuan for a single careless mistake in phrasing.

According to Article 17 of the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China, except for advertisements for medical treatment, drugs and medical devices, it is forbidden to use medical terms or terms that easily confuse the goods being marketed with drugs and medical devices. This is all considered use of medical terms in advertisements.

As early as January 2019, the National Medical Products Administration issued "Frequently Asked Questions on Cosmetics Regulation (I)", which clearly pointed out that Articles 12 and 14 of China's current Regulations on Hygiene Supervision over Cosmetics stipulate that cosmetic labels, small packages or instructions shall not state curative effect, shall not publicize the efficacy, shall not use medical terms, and shall not publicize the role of medical treatment in advertisements.

"In fact, most brands have become cautious in the use of words at the marketing level, but since the product efficacy is the most valued by consumers, most promotion minefields lie in Live streaming studios and the words used by online celebrities," said the brand marketer. 

The brand marketer believes that there are currently still many regulation blind spots both on e-commerce platforms or social and video platforms. For example, if you visit some recommendation apps or short video platforms and search using the words such as essence and facial mask suitable for acne skin, you will find some online celebrities or hosts using such words as "anti-inflammatory" intentionally or unintentionally, which are the use of medical terms.

"On one hand, these platforms should strengthen their audit and regulation over content information; On the other hand, when working with online celebrities, hosts and third-party organizations, brand owners should remember to emphasize the importance of the legal and accurate use of advertising terms." The brand marketer said that with the gradual expansion of the "bandwidth" of regulation and the implementation of more regulatory measures, it is believed that this situation will improve.

03

Question in Mind: 

How Long Can Doctor Endorsement Last?

With the rise of ingredient-centric consumers and technology-centric consumers, and the state's regulation over the safety and efficacy of cosmetics, efficacy skin care and safety skin care have become the mainstream of consumption. When the term "cosmeceutical" was banned, publicity methods such as "medical research co-creation" and "recommendation by dermatologists" seem to have become a new way for brand promotion.

On one hand, brand marketing partners have been changing from ordinary KOL to dermatologists, professional evaluation accounts, big V, etc. On the other hand, doctor KOL is gradually emerging on platforms such as Xiaohongshu, Weibo, Douyin and Bilibili. As far as Douyin platform is concerned, if you search using the term "dermatology" on the short video and live e-commerce data platform "Feigua.cn", you will find more than 200 accounts.

However, in fact, doctors endorsing for cosmetics is officially restricted by relevant departments to some extent.

In February last year, the National Institutes for Food and Drug Control released the list of the 205 experts in the latest cosmetics technical evaluation and consulting expert database. In June, the Institutes issued the Measures for the Administration of Cosmetic Technical Evaluation Consulting Experts, stating that these 205 experts are not allowed to work full time or part time in the fields of cosmetics research, production, management, nor are they allowed to work full time or part time in cosmetics declaration agencies or publicize enterprises in disguised forms as evaluation experts.

"It is true that there are brands that diligently work with medical schools, dermatologists and experts to develop ingredient-centric and technology-centric cosmetic products, but not all products co-created through medical research or promoted by doctors are trustworthy."

A professional said to the CBO reporter that some unprofessional or profit-driven medical beauty public accounts and dermatologists would exaggerate the functions of some ingredients, claiming that some skin care product will become effective if it contains such ingredients, and the same ingredients can replace each other, which, in fact, is a very one-sided view.

"In addition, there are some products being marketed in the name of joint research and development by hospital and brand, but in fact the hospital research component is only nominal.These products will end up being eliminated by consumers after being tested by the market."

With the refining of national regulation, for some brands that have big budgets for marketing, "turn to online celebrities if movie star doesn’t work, and turn to doctors if internet celebrities can not do the trick" will not be a long-term solution.