Nongfu ****** quarreled with the ******* Times, ******* News and other media over the issue ** bottled water standards. Nongfu ****** has published full-page advertisements in major media since April, insisting that the water quality ** its products is fine. The media, on the other hand, took the water quality standard loophole ** Nongfu ****** as a breakthrough and continuously reported heavily.
Drinking water, tap water, natural spring water, mineral water… The two sides were at odds, but consumers were confused.
Nongfu Spring and the media currently disagree.
The media criticized the "water quality standards" – the internal production standards ** Nongfu ******, and the local drinking water standards in Zhejiang Province, where the company is located, which are lower than the national standards. On May 3, the ******* News published an article titled "How many secrets are there in bottled water that are not known to the public?". The article said that the local standards (landmarks) in Zhejiang Province that Nongfu ****** refers to are obviously inferior to the national standard for tap water, which has been criticized by public opinion. The article asked: "Zhejiang landmarks that should have been’abolished by themselves’ five years ago have been used by enterprises for many years. Have the relevant enterprises and departments committed negligence or even illegal acts?"
So far, a number ** provinces, including Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan, Guangdong and Hebei, have issued local standards for "mountain ****** water," some called "natural ****** water" and some called "natural mountain ****** water." In fact, the country has already formulated national standards for "natural mineral water," but localities have established "mountain ****** water" landmarks. Some mountain ****** water landmarks have looser requirements for mineral content, The ******* News said.
Nongfu Spring insists that the "actual water quality" of its products meets the standards. The company published a full-page statement in the Oriental Morning Post and Jiefang Daily on May 3 with the sad headline – "People are doing it, the sky is watching".
Nongfu Spring stressed in the statement that the quality of its products is not only better than GB5749 (National Drinking Water Standard), but also better than the US FDA Bottled Drinking Water Quality Standard.
The two sides seem to be "the donkey’s head is not right," and they are not talking about the same thing: one talks about low standards, and the other says that the actual production quality is no problem.
So far, there has been no test report on the actual water quality of Nongfu Spring. Things have become a bit absurd: if the water quality of Nongfu Spring is indeed better than the national standard and "landmark", why not directly modify the company’s production standards? But on the other hand, if the water of Nongfu Spring is indeed substandard, isn’t it the most direct response for the media to buy a bottle of water and send it to the testing agency to get a report?
This war of words has been quarreling for more than a month, but the two sides did not show a fatal "trump card", which really confused ordinary consumers.
The dispute over the "standard door" of Nongfu Spring originated from a press conference.
On April 9, China Resources Yibao Pure Water took the lead in launching the "China Bottled Water corporate social responsibility proposal" in the sunshine hall of the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. At this meeting, Chen Yue, general manager of China Resources Yibao’s public relations department, read the "proposal" as a corporate representative, and called on industry colleagues to take the initiative to take responsibility for the environment, society and people’s drinking water safety.
The next day, an article in the ******* Times "Nongfu ****** is accused ** being inferior to tap water" pushed Nongfu ****** to the forefront ** public opinion. In response, Nongfu ****** issued a statement saying that the quality ** Nongfu ******’s drinking natural water products has always been higher than any existing drinking water standards in the country; Nongfu ****** has reason to believe that the mastermind behind the scenes is China Resources Yibao.
According to Nongfu Spring, as early as March 22, China Resources Yibao launched a text advertisement to chronicle all the water pollution incidents in China in the past 10 years, and then pointed out that "Do you still dare to drink the water transported by nature?" The slogan pointed directly at Nongfu Spring.
"This is Nongfu Spring taking the right seat, and it has nothing to do with China Resources Yibao," Chen Yue said in an interview with China Times on April 16. "If you are right, you will not be afraid of others saying it. They always take the right seat, and there is nothing we can do." Chen Yue said that China Resources Yibao has officially sued Nongfu Spring in the Nanshan District Court of Shenzhen, and it only costs 1 yuan in terms of economic claims, mainly to restore reputation.
Market competition? Media marketing?
The New Financial Observer quoted data provided by China Investment Consulting on April 21, saying that the top three brands in the drinking water industry are Master Kong, Nongfu Spring, and Wahaha, with a market share of 23%, 22%, and 18%.
"In recent years, the domestic bottled water market has been relatively stable. Due to the strong grasp of channels by major companies and the lack of major moves in products, its market share has not changed significantly," Jian Aihua, a food industry researcher at CIC Consulting, told New Finance.
"Nongfu Spring has developed very rapidly in the past two years, and problems will only occur because of the rapid development." The above observers believe.
In the fiercely competitive bottled water market, Nongfu Spring has always been a master marketer. The slogan "Nongfu Spring is a little sweet" is well known. Unfortunately, this advertising slogan, which has brought many benefits to Nongfu Spring, was also brought to court by a consumer in Yangzhou in 2002. According to media reports, the consumer believed that Nongfu Spring did not have the "sweet" taste as the advertising slogan said, so he demanded compensation of 1 yuan. The court held that Nongfu Spring Company did not give a clear answer to the "sweet" in the advertisement, so it should compensate the plaintiff for the loss of postage and transportation costs due to rights protection. Because of the loss of the lawsuit, Nongfu Spring had to give up the use of this advertising slogan.
Nongfu Spring has also benefited from the media marketing wars.
On April 24, 2000, Yangshengtang, the parent company of Nongfu Spring, announced that it had stopped producing purified water that year because "experiments have shown that purified water is not good for health". Nongfu Spring’s advertisement also demonstrated the comparison of purified water and natural water, and concluded that purified water is not good for health. The move caused a strong reaction in China’s drinking water industry and opened the war over the source (species) of packaged drinking water in China.
At that time, the Chinese bottled water market was still dominated by companies such as Wahaha and Robust.
On August 6, 2008, the "Daily Economic News" took the lead in publishing an unconfirmed online article reporting that "Master Kong’s mineral water source is actually tap water", revealing the whole incident.
The relevant person in charge of the public relations department of Master Kong said that the mineral water produced by Master Kong’s Hangzhou production base is indeed filtered by the urban tap water through the water filtration system. The Master Kong water source incident immediately attracted widespread attention from Beijing, Shanghai and other media, and the media report escalated.
On August 8, 2008, Master Kong Holdings Co., Ltd. published the "Instructions for Master Kong Drinking Mineral Water" for the first time on its official website: "The’drinking mineral water ‘produced by the company is based on pure water and adds mineral raw materials that meet the national standard of’food additives and nutritional additives’, which fully meets the definition of the category of’drinking mineral water ‘in the national standard GB10789 Beverage General Rules. At the same time, considering product safety and hygiene, the company uses water sources, whether using tap water, groundwater or other natural water, in line with the national standard GB5749’Drinking Water Hygiene Standard’."
On September 2, 2008, a month after the "Water Source" scandal lasted, the top executives of water industry giant Tingyi attended a press conference for the first time, and publicly apologized to the invited media in Beijing and Tianjin for the cognitive difference caused by the "selection of high-quality water" in the advertisement of mineral water products. But the Daily Economic News immediately commented on the incident with the theme of insincere apology.
The media has been at the forefront of food safety issues, providing supervision services for ordinary consumers and gaining newspapers a position beyond commercial interests.
However, on May 2, "******* Business Daily" inferred that Nongfu ****** was "a lot ** unsalable" based on the "9.9 yuan/box" exchange promotion information in the supermarket, and the product "few people care about it, and the goods are covered with a layer ** ash." It is a little doubtful that such an inference is too arbitrary.
How will this Nongfu ****** "standard door" end? If the ******* Times can’t catch the actual water quality problem ** Nongfu ******’s products, this battle over "standards" seems to have no direct relationship with ordinary consumers. The only certainty is that this "water battle" between Nongfu ****** and the media will continue tomorrow. If the victory ** the media can be exchanged for the victory ** the people’s interests, it will be the best ending.
