Showbiz and celebrities are shaken by a series of false advertising scandals.
The reality of the advertising industry in Vietnam shows that many artists and celebrities take advantage of social networks to turn their reputation into a "shield" for poor quality products.
Exposing many noises related to advertising
In just the past 2 months, the “storm” related to advertising and selling poor quality products has caused many artists and KOLs (influencers) to suffer. Authorities have dismantled a production and distribution chain of more than 100 types of fake functional foods, many batches of fake brands, and goods that violated origin. Many famous faces who advertised and sold violating products had to apologize or, more seriously, were administratively fined and temporarily detained.
Names that were once familiar to the online community such as Doan Di Bang, Ngan 98, Duy Manh, Thuy Tien, Quang Linh... have been involved in scandals one after another. Behind the contracts that make huge profits are many forms of sales and advertising for personal gain.
Singer Duy Manh apologized and admitted to exaggerating the benefits of a functional food for men in an advertising video. Due to his “lack of experience”, Duy Manh advertised the product and received a fee of 180 million VND. Thuy Tien advertised vegetable candy, Doan Di Bang had her sunscreen product distributed by her family company recalled, Ngan 98 was criticized for poor quality weight loss pills… These are all incidents that have caused a stir in public opinion.
At this time, many consumers were shocked to buy poor quality products. Although in fact, what they trusted was the reputation and prestige of an influential person. The explosion of social networks has created a money-making channel with a scale of thousands of billions of VND for KOLs. However, this uncontrolled development has revealed many negative aspects.
Many KOLs consider advertising and sales as a way to get rich quickly, willing to promote any product without taking the time to learn, and not caring about the impact on followers.
Trust is being eroded
Social media platforms like TikTok and Facebook have policies to censor advertising content, but with the huge amount of content posted every day, control becomes extremely difficult.
Talking to Lao Dong reporter, media expert Le Thom - lecturer at the Academy of Public Administration and Management said that to build a healthy advertising industry, it cannot be based solely on the law, but must be built from the awareness, responsibility and alertness of all parties involved.
Experts say that, on the part of celebrities, personal responsibility cannot be overlooked just because of reputation. “As a brand representative and having a great influence on the public, KOLs are not simply information transmitters but also have to take moral responsibility for the accuracy and transparency of advertising content. Lack of experience cannot be an excuse to ignore professional standards and advertising laws, especially when KOLs often receive support from marketing units, producers or professional teams tasked with supervising and consulting on content. In the context of showbiz being filled with advertising noise, the public needs to be smart consumers, not believing in the recommendations of celebrities if the product is of unknown origin, unverified or has signs of “exaggerating” its uses. Proactively looking up information, comparing it with official sources and speaking up when discovering violations is how each individual contributes to cleaning up the consumer environment,” expert Le Thom assessed.
