Three Squirrels violates advertising law, red scarf poster trends again

[4] Compiled from: Red Star News
 
[2] Recently, the "national snack" Three Squirrels has sparked controversy again over its marketing posters. After being criticized online for the makeup style of a poster model, netizens dug up an advertisement image from three years ago for the "331 Brain-Boosting Festival" and pointed out that the ad may violate the law.

 

Case review
[3] According to a poster provided by netizens, in the poster printed with "Three Squirrels 331 Brain-Boosting Festival," a Young Pioneer wearing a red scarf holds a snack gift box labeled "5 years of fraud prevention, 3 years of brain-boosting." Additionally, the two posters also contain phrases such as "Strive for a leap in brainpower, keep fraud prevention in mind" and "Reform spring breeze blows across the land, eating more '53' is no problem." However, these phrases are written in traditional Chinese characters.

 

[4] Currently, the aforementioned posters can no longer be found on Three Squirrels' official Weibo account. However, on the "Three Squirrels Store" public account, which is operated by Three Squirrels Co., Ltd., related event posters and materials still remain.
 
[5] Regarding these posters, some netizens pointed out that, according to regulations, information related to the Young Pioneers cannot be used in advertisements. At the same time, the netizen also posted a regulation: The flag, emblem, red scarf, and cadre badges of the Chinese Young Pioneers, along with their patterns, shall not be used in trademarks, commercial advertisements, or commercial activities.

 

 
[6] Advertising Law
Article 58: Anyone who commits any of the following acts shall be ordered by the market supervision and administration department to stop publishing the advertisement, and the advertiser shall be ordered to eliminate the impact within the corresponding scope, and shall be fined not less than one time but not more than three times the advertising expenses; if the advertising expenses cannot be calculated or are obviously low, a fine of not less than 100,000 yuan but not more than 200,000 yuan shall be imposed; if the circumstances are serious, a fine of not less than three times but not more than five times the advertising expenses shall be imposed, and if the advertising expenses cannot be calculated or are obviously low, a fine of not less than 200,000 yuan but not more than one million yuan shall be imposed, and the business license may be revoked, and the advertising review authority shall revoke the advertising review approval document and shall not accept its advertising review application within one year:
……
(12) Violating the provisions of Article 39 of this Law by publishing advertisements in primary or secondary schools, kindergartens, or using items related to primary or secondary school students or young children;
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"Several Provisions on the Production and Use of the Young Pioneers' Flag, Emblem, Red Scarf, and Cadre Signs"
The Young Pioneers' flag, emblem, red scarf, and cadre signs and their patterns shall not be used for trademarks, commercial advertisements, or commercial activities.

 

 
[1] The author's perspective
The aforementioned red scarf poster was actually not recently released by Three Squirrels, but a poster from 2019. Although Three Squirrels expressed willingness to actively cooperate in removing the poster at that time, we can still see this poster, which violates Article 58 of the Advertising Law, on its official media platform. Three Squirrels, which has repeatedly refused to correct its behavior, may face the risk of punishment.
 
Thus it can be seen that the internet and netizens have memories. Mistakes will not be forgotten with the passage of time, so whether for enterprises or individuals, we should actively cooperate in rectification, rather than allowing mistakes to continue to spread. As an enterprise, Three Squirrels should humbly accept supervision and criticism from consumers, regulatory authorities, and the media, take this as a lesson, correct shortcomings, and avoid such problems from recurring.