The water purifier company Sterra stated in the advertisement that local tap water contains harmful substances. It is not suitable for drinking. The Public Business Bureau issued a notice to warn the advertisement "misleading", emphasizing that Sterra should stop publishing such advertisements.
Shen Weihong, a doctoral student at the School of Environmental, Nanyang University of Technology, in a video media video a few days ago, alleged that Sterra's advertising content was not true. "I want to name Sterra's means of fake news and intimidation marketing."" ".The main research field is Shen Weihong of microorganisms that the tap water in the microscope in the advertisement is called "full of bacteria and algae", but in fact the water of the picture should be pool water.
The Public Utilities Bureau replied to the Lianhe Zaobao inquiry that Sterra had claimed in the online advertisement that local tap water contained harmful microorganisms such as bacteria and algae, which was misleading.Such misleading advertisements should be stopped.
A spokesman said: "The public utility bureaus takes the problem of water quality seriously. Singapore's tap water can drink safely. Every day we will draw water samples from the water supply network of the island to test."
Suspected to create a fake evaluation website to market its own products as the first quotation
Lianhe Zaobao also found that some netizens have hotly discussed earlier, saying that some evaluation websites have rated Sterra products as the first in category. They are suspected of fraud. The official official has received relevant complaints and is investigating.
The website claims that the evaluation products include the category of technology, health, travel, family and other categories, and will carefully analyze the evaluation products to give consumers a real neutral comment.In the ranking of the water purifier, Sterra is rated as the first and there is no harm, which is also the only ranking of the website.After inquiry, the domain name of the website was registered in mid -November last year, and it was unable to log in within two months.
Social media advertisements have also appeared in other similar websites, including claiming to evaluate the dehumidifier.The website claims to evaluate more than 16 dehumidifiers and select five best models, and Sterra ranks first.Similarly, the domain name is registered in October last year, and it can no longer be logged in within three months of operation.
The Singapore Advertising Standard Administration was questioned that two feedback had been received by the evaluation. The complaint claimed that these comments were fabricated by advertisers and officially launched an investigation.
The official advertising codes indicate that in advertising involving ranking and comparison, comparison should not violate the principles of fair competition, and all advertisements involved in product comparison should be clearly designed and fair, and the possibility of misleading should not be misleading.Advertising must not include or mention any false certification and recommendation. Unless it is related to the personal experience of the recommender, advertisers should also be careful that the recommendations of fictional characters will not bring the impression of real people participation.
Marketing professor: false test reviews may seriously affect consumer decision -making
Liao Shunhua, an associate professor of marketing courses in Singapore Social Sciences, pointed out that the academic community referred to the method of fake evaluation as "artificial lawn", referring to the illusion that some companies created praise or ranking in the name of the public to create the illusion of product praise.This is an immoral gray area in the industry.
She also said that startups and small companies are more likely to adopt this strategy because they want to quickly build reputation.She said that this method may indeed quickly bring short -term benefits such as good reputation and high exposure, but long -term risk is higher."Once consumers are aware of something, they will lose confidence in the brand. Even if the company is here, the negative impact will be in the minds of consumers."
Li Linyi, an assistant professor of marketing schools in Singapore Management University, said: "It is easy to establish these websites, they usually only exist for a few days or weeks, and they also use templates to be constructed. The cost is lower."
He added: "I think this is more like a fishing technique, which is worse than the operation of artificial lawn. This is unfair to consumers and competitors. Consumers think they have got the best products in the market, butIt may be only some medium -level products. "
For why some companies still choose this method, he said: "Real praise takes time. In addition, the product itself may be poor."
Zhang Hanwen, an associate professor of marketing of Xinda Li Guang, said that this uses consumers' "follow -up" to improve consumer trust and finally promote consumers to make decisions."However, the reason why consumers believe that they think these evaluations are true. If they find that they are not operating, they will be counterproductive."
Sterra is a local brand, founded in 2021, mainly selling water purifiers and air purifiers in e -commerce channels.According to earlier reports, the team claimed that the first year of the establishment of one million yuan in sales, which increased to 10 million yuan the following year, and the personnel also developed from the initial four people to nearly 100 in 2023.
The reporter tried to contact Sterra for a statement, but until the deadline, he did not get a reply.
