The "sons" in the live broadcast room cheated my father out of 150,000 yuan

The 2023 3.15 Gala has come to an end, during which consumption issues related to the elderly have been brought to the table. For example, the form of "live broadcast of sad dramas" wins the affection of the elderly and takes the opportunity to "rob" their wallets. The anchors, platforms, and suppliers may all benefit, but the ones who ultimately get hurt are the elderly in front of the screen.

This year's CCTV 3.15 Gala featured a lot of news about the consumption problems of the elderly. The live broadcast of a sad drama that harmed the elderly and the free storytelling machine that concealed a scam of sky-high-priced medicines aroused the anger of many people.

The live broadcast of the sad drama has caught the attention of the elderly, deceived the feelings of their parents, and emptied their wallets. Many people don’t know that behind the twists and turns of the story of helping the weak and mediating disputes, there is a special team that hired people to write scripts, build scenes, and find people to act and cooperate. The purpose of this operation is to implant health products and antiques for sale at the right time. The anchors use positive slogans to harvest batches of elderly people.

Elderly people who have been idle at home for a long time after retirement are easily drawn into some plots. For example, some elderly people follow the positive energy anchors who punish evil and promote good, and believe that buying things is to help "good people" and lose "bad people"; some parents are soft-hearted and are moved by some tragic stories created by anchors, and use crazy shopping to show their sympathy.

One of the important reasons behind the parents' addiction is that the anchors have deep tricks. In addition to working hard on the script and the scene, there are anchors who specialize in "attacking the heart", calling the elderly "dad and mom", behaving "politely and sensibly", and even maintaining the relationship one-on-one in private, full of flattery and auspicious words, so that the parents are flattered and happily pay the money.

In the end, the high-profit products were sold out, the anchor took nearly 70% of the profits, the supplier got about 20% of the profits, and the short video platform also took a high commission. The only ones who got hurt were the elderly whose homes were filled with "three-no" products and counterfeit antiques.

One or two years spent 150,000 yuan, the elderly are addicted to live broadcasts of acting

Guoqiang, 61, is a retired cadre from Wuhan. He liked to collect cultural relics and calligraphy and paintings in his early years. After retirement, he became fascinated with emotional live broadcasts. What we think of as acting live broadcasts and selling goods after the preparation is completely different in the eyes of parents. Guoqiang said, "I follow positive energy anchors, about 10 of them. They have been helping people mediate disputes, helping people in difficulties, and punishing bad people for a long time."

In his opinion, "some phenomena in society are not so good. When ordinary people have problems, no one helps them deal with them. These positive energy anchors are helping everyone deal with the problems. They are not selling goods, but dealing with the goods of bad guys and helping victims raise funds. Moreover, the goods are all good products from regular brands ." Guoqiang told Shenran.

He has been watching live broadcasts for two or three years and claims to have spent about 150,000 yuan on calligraphy and paintings, ceramics, jade, health products, and various daily necessities. He believes in such live broadcasts. The following pictures show some of the products Guoqiang bought in the live broadcast room. According to him, the purchase price of each of the following items is about 500 yuan, and the "market price is over 10,000 yuan."

Guoqiang is very confident in himself. "I don't trust ordinary people, and I never answer fraudulent calls, but the things I bought are real. I have social experience and some knowledge of antiques and collectibles. I have been to auctions before. Besides, we are in a society ruled by law now. The anchors are all certified by the platform, and the things we buy also have various authentication certificates. Besides, if someone dares to forge things like coins, wouldn't that be a matter of losing their heads?"

When Shenran asked whether the items he bought had been taken for identification, Guoqiang said, " These are definitely real. I saw the anchor take them out from the underground palace of a wealthy family. It's too dangerous to take such important items out. I plan to keep them. This is wealth, and I am investing ."

Xiaoxuan has been abroad in recent years. Her mother is addicted to a live broadcast room. The anchor and Xiaoxuan's mother call each other "son" and "mom". Xiaoxuan told Shenran that the anchor's live broadcast room has been broadcasting for more than a year to find her mother. In the process, he encountered various bad people who hindered him. In the middle, he found his sister first, but his sister was abused by his adoptive parents, the so-called "bad people". Coincidentally, the "bad people" the anchor met all had companies under their names. The anchor snatched the products of their companies and gave them to the fans of the live broadcast room at a low price as a benefit, and at the same time as a punishment for the "bad people".

How crazy did the mother go after getting into the show? "The live broadcast room said that the anchor's sister was beaten and hospitalized, and my mother said she would fly over to help take care of the sister. My mother even sent a private message to the anchor, saying that if she found her mother, she would help the anchor take care of her mother. My mother wanted to give the anchor money, but the anchor confiscated it, so she turned to buying things from the live broadcast room crazily. Another time, she wanted to send something to the anchor, but the anchor didn't tell her the address, so she sent the thing to a classmate in Dalian where the anchor was, and asked the anchor to pick it up, but in the end no one went to pick it up."

Xiaoxuan calculated that in more than a year, her mother spent more than 50,000 yuan on the live broadcast room. The house was filled with express boxes, and the house became like a courier station. The things she bought included antique paintings and calligraphy, health products, jewelry and watches, clothes, daily necessities, etc. In addition to sleeping, Xiaoxuan's mother watched the live broadcast for more than ten hours a day.

In addition to helping the anchor, Xiaoxuan's mother also buys things for the sake of getting a bargain and having a chance to make money . "My mother bought calligraphy and paintings. The live broadcast room said that the market price was more than 10,000 yuan, and they were sold to fans at a discount price of 199 yuan. She thought that she could make money by reselling them, so she stocked up a lot. Once, my mother spent dozens of yuan to buy 6 barrels of shampoo, saying that she could sell it to a local barber shop, but when she asked, the barber shop refused to accept it." Xiaoxuan was amused and confused when she heard this.

Many people may find it hard to imagine that their parents are addicted to the live broadcast of sad dramas. Xiaoxuan had previously found many cases of live broadcasters exposed on social platforms and showed them to her mother, but her mother said, "What they said may be a lie, but mine is real." Even after the 3.15 Gala exposed such routines, an elderly person who had been addicted to such live broadcasts for a long time still stubbornly said, " The live broadcasts I watched were all real. The live broadcasters exposed on 3.15 have nothing to do with the live broadcasters I follow ."

It can be seen how profound the impact of the live broadcast of sad dramas is on this generation of elderly people.

2. Writing scripts, setting up hospital ward scenes, the routines of live broadcasting of sad dramas are profound

The accounts mentioned in the 3.15 Gala are: Ma Hongliang, Gao Leng, Xiao Zhang Shuo Shi, Hui Ge, Jun An, Er Liang Er Lao Ban, Fang Ming Kuai Xiangqin. In fact, there are countless live broadcast rooms of this type. Once the elderly follow one or two such live broadcast rooms, algorithm recommendations will be pushed to them continuously.

On the platform, this type of live broadcast is available on Douyin, Kuaishou, and Video Number. In terms of content, these live broadcast rooms are full of big dramas all year round, with anchors looking for relatives, helping people settle disputes, rescuing hostages, tracking victims, mediating family disputes for fans, helping wives whose husbands cheated on them catch mistresses, and all kinds of family affairs and chaos, which are all themes that parents love to watch.

One of the biggest features of this type of live broadcast is that it has a script, and while acting out the sad drama, it also inserts products and sells goods.

CCTV 3.15 reported that He He Studio is a company that specializes in operating such live broadcasts. An employee of the company admitted that everything the anchor said was fake and was performed according to the script. She herself has made guest appearances many times. " I am an assistant anchor. The scripts are basically written in advance. I just follow what the anchor says. If you are asked to curse, you curse. If you are asked to act pitiful, you act pitiful ."

The employee said that a key part of live streaming is to put the right product in the right plot. "If you want to sell a product, you can put it in the show. Sometimes you can put it in one show in advance, so that fans will feel that you are not selling products, but doing good deeds."

In order to make the fabricated plot more realistic, the company even built a scene identical to a hospital ward, complete with beds and oxygen cylinders. Such scenes are used very frequently. By including patients in the ward in the fabricated story, they can gain the trust and sympathy of the elderly.

There are usually two ideas for switching from a melodrama to live streaming sales: one is to punish the "bad guys". The bad guys in the live streaming story usually have a company. The anchor uses various means to snatch the bad guys' things and sell them to fans at a low price as welfare, taking advantage of the bad guys while punishing them. The other is to help the "good guys". For example, when the "good guys" fall into trouble, the anchor calls on fans to buy things to help them.

The media have previously reported on the industrial chain behind such "sad dramas". The reports mentioned that many of these emotional anchors and health experts who frequently appear in live broadcasts and short videos are incubated and packaged by media companies. Behind the live broadcast is an industrial chain targeting elderly fans, from actor packaging to video live broadcast, and then to selling goods for profit . Most of the products sold are exaggerated or even suspected of counterfeiting and have high profits.

In addition to these conventional routines, many anchors’ practices are very “clever”, and it can be said that they have taken the saying “sincerity is the biggest routine” to the extreme.

Xiaoxuan told Shenran that the anchor who was looking for relatives that her mother followed would ask the elderly people in the live broadcast room to give him advice on how to fight the bad guys. Her mother would send private messages to the anchor every day to give him advice, and the anchor would reply every two or three days. He would also be particularly good at flattering her by saying: "Mom, your advice is especially useful, you are my military advisor", "I rely on mom a lot, you can't leave me" ... These words of praise made her mother even more addicted.

The anchor also told Xiaoxuan's mother, "Mom, if you need anything, don't buy it, just tell my assistant and I'll send it to you." During the 2023 Spring Festival, Xiaoxuan's mother did receive meat, vegetables, and air purifiers sent by the anchor. It can be said that these anchors really put a lot of thought into winning the hearts and minds of the elderly and gaining their trust.

In addition, the anchor also has a team to help maintain fans. Xiaoxuan's mother joined the anchor's fan group and told others her mobile phone number. Someone who claimed to be a fan added her WeChat to discuss the content of the live broadcast. Xiaoxuan speculated that those people were staff members of the anchor's team, because she noticed that after not letting her mother watch the live broadcast for a while, those people used WeChat to ask, "How are you doing recently?" "XX anchor has updated again recently, have you seen it?" Not long after Xiaoxuan deleted the other person's WeChat, this person changed his profile picture and added her as a friend again with the same WeChat account.

Xiaoxuan once used her mother’s short video account to send a private message to the anchor and said, “Don’t send private messages to my mother anymore, otherwise I will complain about you.” The other party replied: “You didn’t manage your mother well, what does it have to do with me?”

"I have reported on the platform many times. Some live broadcast rooms were blocked after being reported once or twice, but they would soon open another one. Some were reported several times but were unsuccessful. The system showed that there was insufficient evidence. Reporting requires a lot of detailed information, and it is difficult to get solid evidence just by watching the live broadcast." Xiaoxuan was almost at her wits' end.

In addition to the plot and the routine of maintaining fans, the products sold in this type of live broadcast room also have commonalities, such as hitting the psychology of the elderly, varying market prices that are difficult to benchmark, extremely high profit margins, and difficulty in protecting rights.

The first category of goods sold by these anchors is health care products. Elderly people attach great importance to their health and are most likely to fall into the trap of this type of live broadcast, and health care products are notoriously profitable. The second category is jewelry, jade, calligraphy and paintings, beads, and ceramics. These types of things are said to have investment and collection value, and are likely to attract the elderly on the grounds of finding bargains, but the value of imitations and authentic products is far apart, and the profit margin in between can be imagined.

3. How huge are the profits behind this?

Who can get the biggest profit behind the dramatic live broadcast?

The first beneficiary is of course the anchor, followed by the suppliers, and finally the short video platform that takes commissions.

Among the cases exposed on March 15, there is one in which "Xiao Zhang Shuo Shi" switched from acting to selling so-called "miracle medicine" for lungs. In fact, CCTV reporters found that the product type is a compressed candy, just an ordinary food. "Xiao Zhang Shuo Shi" promoted an ordinary food as a miracle medicine with an absurd storyline.

Later, CCTV reporters found Manager Yin, the person in charge of LiGe Supply Chain behind the products. He said that LiGe Supply Chain mainly finds suitable products and provides venues for anchors. There are hundreds of products on the company's shelves, most of which are ordinary foods such as compressed candies and solid beverages. Manager Yin admitted that the stories told in the live broadcast room are all fabricated, the actors are hired, and there are directors writing scripts. Many live broadcasts under the banner of mediating conflicts and disputes are aimed at deceiving the elderly to buy products, and the anchors make a lot of money.

Manager Wang of LiGe Supply Chain also mentioned: " This thing costs 1.2 yuan if you buy it from me. This (product) has sold about 10 to 20 million boxes. We sell 10 boxes for 99 yuan, and give the anchor a commission of 80 yuan, which means that the anchor earns 80 yuan out of 99 yuan. "

It is not difficult to see from the above profit-sharing structure that because the anchor is the core element of the entire process, the profit is also the highest, reaching 80%, and the supplier takes 10% of the profit. On this basis, depending on the category, about 10% of the anchor's profit may be taken by the platform as a commission. Excluding this part, the anchor can also get about 70% of the profit . In the whole incident, the only one who suffered losses was the elderly who "helped count the money after being sold."

There may be many reasons why parents are so easily fooled.

The anchors’ routines and long-term influence in the live broadcast room have indeed laid a solid foundation of trust for the elderly. Moreover, most anchors have already thought of the excuses for their accounts being blocked, which are "complaints from black fans and revenge from enemies." The anchors will also use backup accounts to get fans to follow them in advance.

Dou Donghui, a professor of psychology at the Central University of Finance and Economics, analyzed that most elderly people are in the "empty nest period" and have a stronger psychological need for social belonging. The live broadcast room has created a virtual space. The terms "family" and "parents" and the atmosphere formed by the gathering of people of the same age and the same enthusiasts give the elderly an emotional sustenance, and purchasing behavior has become a "certificate of participation" to strengthen identity recognition.

Among the elderly who are addicted to these live broadcasts, many are highly educated people who have received higher education and had formal jobs before retirement. Xiaoxuan analyzed that her parents have plenty of time and pensions after retirement, and having money and leisure is part of the reason. In addition, the anchors take advantage of the fact that many elderly people's children are not around . "I have been abroad for the past few years, and my mother almost treats the anchor as her own child. It's a bit like putting her motherly love on the anchor by mistake." Another reason is that Xiaoxuan feels that her mother is simple and kind, too sympathetic, and a bit like taking advantage of small things.

Many people also believe that the elderly lack the ability to distinguish, and short video platforms have the responsibility to fulfill their regulatory obligations. Lax platform supervision is also one of the reasons for the rampant chaos. "I hope that in the future, the platform will strictly review such fake emotional and real deception live broadcast accounts, permanently ban them, and strictly prevent the relevant anchors from changing their 'vests' to make a comeback ." Xiaoxuan said.

The Internet is not a lawless place. In fact, this type of dramatic live streaming has already involved false advertising . Li Sheng, a partner at Beijing Zhipu Law Firm, pointed out that no matter what the business model is, the implementation of product responsibility, business regulations, and consumer protection are the same. If any party, including manufacturers, sellers, video platforms, and anchors, is involved in false advertising, violates product quality regulations, defrauds consumers, or "sells misery to sell goods, acts and hypes" in violation of public order and good customs, they must bear compensation liability or joint liability in accordance with the "Advertising Law", "Product Quality Law", "Consumer Rights Protection Law", etc.

"The penalties for selling counterfeit goods during live streaming should be increased. In addition to establishing a blacklist system, cross-departmental supervision is also needed to comprehensively manage the live streaming marketing industry. At the same time, platforms should require a real-name system to prevent a company or an individual anchor from repeatedly opening new accounts and deceiving consumers with new aliases," said Li Sheng.

If a dispute involving a large amount of money occurs in such live broadcast rooms, how should consumers protect their rights? Li Sheng suggested: First, negotiate with the anchor and the network platform. If the dispute cannot be effectively resolved, seek intervention from the platform regulatory department and the Consumer Rights Protection Association. If the amount is large, you can initiate legal proceedings to protect your rights.

In the final analysis, if we want to really pull the elderly out of the quagmire of selling products with "sad dramas", the elderly themselves may need to wake up. What children can do is to help the elderly enrich their lives, spend more time with them, listen to their demands, and popularize more Internet knowledge to them.

Author: Tang Ya, Editor: Li Ming

Source public account: Shenran (ID: shenrancaijing), focusing on innovative economy and dedicated to in-depth content.