1. The topic we will fact check today is: ‘False advertisements detected in just one week‘It’s. Are there many false advertisements detected in the past week??
– Yes, there are a lot of them. As many as six press releases were issued announcing performance or urging caution, saying that government public agencies had detected false advertisements. The field is also very broad, including the Korea Communications Standards Commission, Korea Communications Commission, Consumer Agency, Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, and Financial Supervisory Service.
2. I think the government is stepping in to catch it because it is causing serious problems in people’s lives.. Let’s go through them one by one..
– First, we will look at the cases discovered by the Korea Communications Standards Commission. The Korea Communications Standards Commission issued a press release on the 30th. The title is . This is a method of using the name of a famous domestic media company, decorating a website with the same or similar appearance, explaining how to use a virtual currency investment platform, and providing link information to access the platform.
Homepages that copied the Chosun Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo exposed fake articles featuring celebrities such as former anchorman Son Suk-hee and actor Song Joong-ki, attracting attention and eventually leading people to a virtual currency investment platform. The Korea Communications Standards Commission decided to block access to the false information.
3. Let’s also look at the next case.. Rice paste instead of dead skin cells at home shopping. what is this about?
– This is also a case discovered by the Korea Communications Standards Commission. Four home shopping companies, including GS MY SHOP, SK Stoa, Hyundai Home Shopping Plus Shop, and W Shopping, broadcasted sales of cosmetics that claim to dissolve dead skin cells on feet. A common scene is a demonstration of applying an exfoliant to feet with dead skin cells. The intention is to maximize the effectiveness of the product by comparing when the product is applied and when it is not applied. In fact, the white dead skin cells were not actual human dead skin cells. It was a fake keratin made by mixing rice paste and glue or flour and water. The show hosts described it as if the product was removing dead skin cells, saying, “The dead skin cells that were so thick on the heels just melt away as soon as you apply them” (GS My Shop broadcast on February 20).
One show host (SK Stoa broadcast on February 25th) even made a statement to the effect that dead skin cells were intentionally caused for the broadcast. He said, “It’s a bit funny to say that we collected dead skin cells for about a week for the broadcast. “I worked hard to save it,” he said. “I washed my feet a little less and exposed them to the cold wind, and you can see that these places have just dried out.” But this wasn’t actual dead skin cells. There were cases where a subtitle appeared on the screen saying ‘Scene created to help customers understand’, but looking at the show host’s remarks, it was difficult to believe that it was not an actual dead skin cell.
The review committee members said, “It must be clearly stated that it is staged to facilitate understanding. Otherwise, it is fraud,” and considered it to be a violation of regulations that requires severe disciplinary action. Officials from home shopping companies who attended to state their opinions said, “We apologize for the inappropriate presentation,” and promised to prevent recurrence. In the end, four home shopping companies received a ‘caution’, a legal sanction. If a legal sanction is received, it will be applied as a reason for point deduction when re-licensing a broadcasting company.
4. I heard that terrestrial broadcasting also received severe punishment.?
– The Korea Communications Standards Commission held a general meeting on the 28th and warned of legal sanctions on SBS’ ‘Morning Wide Part 3’ (June 7, 12, 13, July 6, 11, 2023) for violating indirect advertising regulations. ‘ was decided. This is a sanction one level higher than the ‘caution’ received by home shopping companies mentioned earlier.
In the broadcast, the indirect advertising product appears with an announcer from the beginning of the program. The male announcer says, “Let’s fill ourselves up from the inside out today,” and then prepares an indirect advertising drink and pours it into a cup. Afterwards, the female announcer says, “Morning Wide is with you for a day when you feel strong both physically and mentally,” and drink a drink.
An SBS official who was present to express his opinion said, “This is the first time we have seen PPL in a field other than entertainment or drama, so we focused on the format. I think it ended up like this because we followed the advertisers’ demands.” He continued, “(The advertiser) may have decided that the advertisement was not effective, but it has not been advertised since.”
The review committee members also pointed out that it was very unusual. Deliberation committee member Kang Kyeong-pil said, “It was broadcast nine times, and the internal deliberation function does not seem to be working at all.” He added, “It looks like the current affairs broadcast has almost become a commercial broadcast, so sanctions seem necessary.” Chairman Ryu Hee-rim said, “I have seen various violations of deliberation regulations, but I think this is the first time such a violation has occurred on a terrestrial broadcasting station.”
5. They say that overseas direct purchase platform Ali Express was also caught for false advertising..
– On the 30th, the Korea Communications Commission concluded its investigation into the violation of prohibited acts under the Telecommunications Business Act by Ali Express (Ali), a shopping platform operated by China’s Alibaba Group, and notified corrective measures. As a result of the investigation into Ali’s paid membership subscription and cancellation process, the Korea Communications Commission found that there were acts that undermined user interests, such as false or exaggerated announcements of membership benefits, subtle acts of inducing paid payment, also known as ‘dark patterns’, and a policy of refunding annual membership fees with coupons. It was revealed that was discovered.
According to the Korea Communications Commission’s explanation, Ali’s paid membership is paid immediately after signing up and the annual fee is paid for an additional 30 days of membership benefits (1 year + 30 days), or only provides cashback and 24-hour customer service benefits during the free trial period (30 days). There are two ways to use all membership benefits when paying the annual fee. The Korea Communications Commission explained that Ali recruited users through false and exaggerated notices as if they could use ‘product discount coupons’ even though they could not be used during the free trial period if they signed up for a free trial. Additionally, it was found that during this process, free trial users who were unable to use product discount coupons were exposed to a ‘Receive Coupon’ button and were encouraged to pay an annual fee if they clicked on it.
The Korea Communications Commission plans to hear opinions from business operators regarding the violations identified in this investigation, and determine the final corrective order and the amount of fines to be imposed through committee deliberation and resolution procedures.
6. Foods said to be good for improving brain function have also been caught for false advertising..
– The Korea Consumer Agency, in collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, conducted a safety survey on foreign foods claiming to improve brain health and improved concentration on domestic and international online platforms and announced the results on the 30th.
As a result of the investigation, it was confirmed that all 19 products under investigation used ingredients for brain function improvement and treatment (prescription drugs) such as galantamine and vinpocetine, or raw materials that cannot be used in food such as Nupeptide, Bacopa, and Lycopodium.
Among these, galantamine, detected in two products, and Nupeptide, detected in three products, are ingredients that were first confirmed to be imported into the country, and are subject to ‘raw materials/ingredients subject to blocking entry into the country’ by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.
In Korea, pharmaceuticals, drug-like substances, and raw materials whose safety has not been proven are subject to blocking from being brought into the country in accordance with the ‘Imported Food Safety Management Special Act’ that are likely to pose a risk to public health. Foods containing these raw materials or ingredients cannot be imported or sold.
In addition, galantamine, vinpocetine, and citicoline are ingredients of neuropsychiatric drugs used to treat brain function. If taken incorrectly without a doctor’s prescription, special caution is required as they can cause vomiting, headache, diarrhea, and, in severe cases, shock. This is the Consumer Agency’s explanation.
Accordingly, the Consumer Agency recommended that businesses that purchase products containing prescription drug ingredients and ingredients that cannot be used in food stop selling them, and requested the ‘Mail Order Brokerage Regular Council’ and AliExpress to block sales to prevent the products from being distributed. It was revealed.
7. A large number of products related to hair loss were also discovered.?
– The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (Minister Oh Yoo-kyung) inspected 151 sales posts for cosmetics distributed and sold online claiming to alleviate hair loss symptoms. As a result, 67 cases of false and exaggerated advertisements were detected in violation of the Cosmetics Act, and the Broadcasting and Communications Review was conducted. They said they had requested the committee to block access.
‘Cosmetics that help alleviate hair loss symptoms’ must be certified as functional cosmetics by submitting test data on effectiveness, such as human application tests, and data on standards and test methods to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Even in the case of cosmetics recognized as functional cosmetics, advertisements must not be made that may mislead consumers into thinking that they are medicines with therapeutic effects or misperceive them differently from the truth. However, some of the products caught this time claim efficacy and effects that have not been medically verified, such as ‘promoting new hair growth’, ‘improving hair thickness’, ‘preventing hair loss’, ‘preventing hair loss’, and ‘improving/relieving inflammation’. It was found that advertisements were made that could be misunderstood or misunderstood, contrary to the facts, such as ‘no animal testing was conducted’.
There is no shampoo that prevents or prevents hair loss, and there is no shampoo that causes new hair to grow or makes hair thicker. It can help alleviate hair loss symptoms, that is, reduce hair loss. No more than that. There are many animal lovers. Cosmetics are prohibited from being tested on animals. Therefore, it would be a good idea to set aside products that advertise as ‘vegan cosmetics’ and say that they are ‘not tested on animals’.
8. These are all false and exaggerated advertisements that were discovered in one week.? Why on earth are there so many??
– Thanks to the hard work of officials from various organizations, many false and exaggerated advertisements were discovered. In fact, false and exaggerated advertisements are so rampant that they are not even the tip of the iceberg. In particular, with the development of the Internet and mobile devices, information distribution has become easier, and the channels through which false and exaggerated advertisements can be distributed have increased. I think it is important not to be fooled by advertisements that say our products are good, not to believe paid product reviews, and to make it a habit to check whether you really need it and whether the contents of the advertisement are true.
