CHINA> Focus
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CHINA> Focus
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Cutting off criminal channels
By Hu Yongqi (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-01 09:18
 Deng Xiaobing had been waiting for days for his new cell phone to arrive in the mail. According to the television show he called to order it, the phone was a high-tech model and a dead cert to impress his friends. What arrived in the mail was far from what was promised. "The phone is total rubbish," said the 24-year-old printer from Beijing. "I paid 499 yuan, a quarter of my monthly salary, but it is not what the hosts of the show said it was at all." Deng is just one of thousands of consumers who have been deceived by direct-response infomercials, which are usually late-night promotions for products fronted by loud and excited young presenters. Last year, Shanghai authorities alone received more than 4,226 complaints about infomercials - 30 times the number than in 2004, showed figures from the local industry and commerce bureau. More than 3,000 unhappy customers in the city registered their anger in the first quarter of this year, a 28-percent rise on 2008. "I blame the hosts. They claimed the phone had the same functions as a Nokia, the brand from Finland. It could surf the Internet, and receive radio and television, they said. But it can't," said Deng, who saw the infomercial on a television station based in Jiangxi province. The phone was in fact an earlier model than advertised, he complained, adding that the keypad was unusable and the sound was muffled. "I felt so stupid when I realized I'd been cheated," he groaned. Retail sales in China hit 10.8 trillion yuan ($1.5 trillion) last year. However, television shopping took less than a 0.2 percent share, with just 20,000 consumers spending a combined 16.2 billion yuan, according to the China TV Sales Research and Development Center, which is affiliated with the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. Like Deng, 27-year-old Beijing tour guide Qin Meng thought she had found a bargain when she bought an "invisible" bra for 560 yuan after watching an infomercial in 2007. But just days later she saw an identical product in a department store priced at just 70 yuan. "These direct advertisers know how to grab the consumers' attention, and prey on people's impulses. I paid the price," she said. Zhang Shuting, a professor in advertising at Communication University of China in Beijing, said purchases from infomercials accounted for as much as 60 percent of all television retail sales each year, and added that the figure is increasing. However, unlike in the United States, Britain or Japan, where infomercials also run, Chinese buyers find it almost impossible to get refunds for poor quality goods because advertisers rarely give customers their real contact details. Almost 200 million people in China watch television every day and, according to a 2006 study by CTR Market Research in Beijing, 94 percent of all infomercials are targeted at housewives watching in the afternoon and people who watch late into the night. Less than 50 percent of the consumers polled were happy with their purchases from direct-response television, the survey said.
"Advertisers have been attracted to direct-response commercials by the vast number of viewers and potential profits," said Zhang Shuting. "Also, television stations are happy because they usually struggle to find advertisers for off-peak times, such as after midnight and before 6 am. These infomercials give them extra income." In its last study, also in 2006, the China Consumers' Association discovered infomercials made up 61 percent of all "illegal" advertising - when the products promoted are of poor quality - on 30 major television channels across China. Media experts said supervision of advertising standards is inefficient as it falls under too many government departments, including the State Administration of Industry and Commerce, and State Administration of Radio, Television and Film. "All the departments have been struggling to manage the situation with direct-response commercials," said Zhang. "Because of this, the sector is not being properly controlled in China, nor shaped into a mature market." |
