Why is the “no middlemen” claim repeatedly made in advertising?

“There is no middleman to earn the price difference, sellers sell more and buyers spend less.” Through multi-channel and high-frequency advertising, the slogan of Guazi used car direct sales network has become popular in recent years. Everyone knows it. The reporter's investigation found that Guazi.com's claim that "there are no middlemen to make the difference" is inconsistent with actual operations. Its "guaranteed sale" service collects and sells cars from individuals, and there are also middlemen who buy and sell vehicles on the platform.

There have always been doubts on the Internet about "no middlemen make the difference", and some people even said: This is the biggest marketing lie. The "clever" thing about this advertisement is that it takes advantage of people's bad association with the word "middleman" and implants fantasies in brainwashing, giving people the illusion that there is no middleman when buying a car on this platform. It must be affordable.

Since it is cowhide, it must be broken. Judging from the investigation, this platform claims to have "no middlemen", but it actually collects and sells cars. It claims to sell "directly" but there are second-hand car dealers doing business on the platform. Guazi.com states in its advertisement that it is "only an information release platform", and it seems like the media, "I am only responsible for providing information and not buying and selling." However, in fact, Guazi.com is a "qualified intermediary company that provides contract intermediary services." square". Moreover, buyers and sellers cannot directly negotiate the price and must sign contracts with Guazi.com separately. Guazi.com also charges various fees from both parties and makes profits from it, and it is not even as simple as charging a "service fee."

Facts have shown that this is an out-and-out false advertisement. As Liu Junhai, a professor at the Law School of Renmin University of China, said, the advertisement is suspected of false advertising and misleading propaganda. Because it is suspected of false advertising, some experts suggested changing the advertising words. This kind of advice is actually a bit evasive. Perhaps because of the insight into world affairs, I no longer have illusions about many things. In April this year, the Fengtai Branch of the Beijing Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce fined Chehaoduo Old Motor Vehicle Brokerage (Beijing) Co., Ltd., the parent company of Guazi.com, 300,000 yuan for being "unclear and incomprehensible" in an advertisement such as "Sellers can sell up to 20% more" . According to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, making misleading false advertisements for goods is already a maximum penalty. But this mere fine of hundreds of thousands of dollars may not matter to this platform at all.

Even if the penalty is increased, consumers have already paid a "trust cost." Article 55 of the New Consumer Law stipulates that if an operator commits fraud in providing goods or services, it shall increase compensation for the losses suffered by the consumer at the request of the consumer. The amount of the increased compensation shall be the price of the consumer's purchase of the goods or the cost of receiving the service. three times; if the amount of increased compensation is less than five hundred yuan, it shall be five hundred yuan. There are laws to abide by and laws must be abided by. In light of this provision, consumers deserve compensation. Only by allowing consumers to receive compensation can a strong deterrent be formed and companies forced to operate with integrity.

If a person has no faith, he will not be established, and if there is no faith, a business will not prosper. In the construction of integrity, speculators' profit is the biggest cancer. "There is no middleman to make the difference." This kind of bullshit advertisement has been going on for so many years. It is nothing more than a big joke in the construction of integrity. The "no middlemen" cowhide cannot be "blown and lightly broken". Whether the impact can be restored depends on how it ends.

Source: Yanzhao Metropolis Daily