On April 7, the Tiktok studio of the "Haihe Milk Flagship Store" in Tianjin was exposed to long-term involvement in pornography. The anchor frequently used sexual suggestive remarks such as "frying pan", accompanied with indecent actions to bring goods, which caused the girls in Grade 1 and Grade 6 to learn vulgar words to ask their parents, causing outrage on the whole network.

The account involved has 143000 followers and has published 49 video works, operating as an authorized distributor of Haihe Milk. The brand initially shifted the blame to 'non direct sales cannot be managed', and only apologized and rectified after the public opinion fermented. In the afternoon of that day, the Market Supervision Bureau of Binhai New Area in Tianjin responded that it had received the report and was conducting a comprehensive verification and handling.

This incident has broken through the bottom line of live streaming sales, harmed minors, and caused the collapse of the reputation of time-honored brands, highlighting the dual problems of traffic supremacy chaos and regulatory deficiencies, and casting a shadow over brand building.

Live streaming involving pornography is uncomfortable

The cause of the incident originated from a revelation by Mr. Sun, who discovered that his niece, who was in sixth grade, was asking about the meaning of the word "broken pot" after watching a live broadcast of the "Haihe Milk Flagship Store" on a certain video platform. This term, originating from the obscure context of the internet and referring to sexual behavior, appears in the mouths of minors, causing both shock and concern for parents.

With the fermentation of public opinion, the past live content of the live broadcast room has been exposed by netizens. Among them, the male anchor frequently used suggestive language, discussed sexual trade topics, and made indecent body movements in the process of promoting products. Video clips have been widely spread on social media, triggering strong public outrage over the bottom line of live broadcast content and the protection of minors.

In the face of the surging public opinion, on the afternoon of April 7th, Haihe Milk customer service responded first, expressing deep apologies for the discomfort and trouble caused to consumers by inappropriate content in the live broadcast room. They have immediately reported to the commissioner for serious handling and will comprehensively rectify the live broadcast standards and personnel management, resolutely eliminating vulgar and illegal activities.

However, as the incident escalated further, relying solely on customer service responses was no longer enough to quell public doubts. On April 8th, Tianjin Haihe Dairy Co., Ltd. officially issued an apology statement, stating that the company is highly concerned about the adverse effects caused by the video content of the "Haihe Milk Flagship Store" live broadcast room and deeply regrets it. In response to this serious violation, Haihe Dairy has made a decision to immediately terminate its cooperation with the distributor and initiate legal proceedings to hold them accountable.

According to public information, the authentication subject of the "Haihe Milk Flagship Store" account involved is Tianjin Baiyi E-commerce Co., Ltd., which is a cooperative distributor of Haihe Dairy. The company was established in May 2019 with a registered capital of 1 million yuan. Despite the label of 'Haihe Milk', its operational behavior is vastly different from the image of a time-honored brand.

Some netizens have dug up the past live streaming records of the live room and found that it has long chosen to broadcast late at night or even early in the morning, and has experienced extreme live streaming scenes. In a widely circulated video, the anchor stood in a raincoat carrying goods in the outdoor rainstorm, rubbed his eyes to wipe the rain, and repeatedly explained that "this is not a video broadcast". This behavior of insisting on live broadcast in bad weather has triggered discussion about employment intensity. Now it seems that the operation team has been accustomed to "taking the edge of the sword" in order to win traffic.

Under public pressure, the male anchor involved also spoke out through a short video account on the evening of April 7th. He did not defend vulgar remarks in the video, but admitted his mistake, stating that 'right is right, wrong is wrong'. But his core appeal in response is more about pleading for public opinion to stop attacking those around him, emphasizing that "cyberbullying is just for me personally, and I cannot involve my parents, partners, and friends", and expressing willingness to bear the anger of public opinion alone.

Although this response shows a certain degree of apology, it cannot completely restore consumers' confidence in the damaged brand.

Serious accountability for all parties involved

This incident not only exposed the chaos in the management of live streaming rooms, but also revealed the huge loopholes in the supervision of authorized distribution channels by brand owners and the platform's inaction.

On April 7th, the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Binhai New Area in Tianjin has also intervened. The staff stated that they have received relevant feedback and the relevant business departments are verifying and processing it.

As a time-honored brand founded in 1957, Haihe Milk was recognized as a "Chinese time-honored brand" in 2024, and it has a strong mass base in the local and even national markets of Tianjin. Relying on the strong background of Tianjin Food Group, Haihe Dairy achieved a revenue of 985 million yuan in 2024, and its classic products such as cocoa milk have carried the memory of several generations. However, this "borderline" controversy undoubtedly tarnished this golden signboard.

As of the morning of April 8, there were no goods on sale in the involved live broadcast room on the Tiktok platform, and the number of fans was 143000. The other "Haihe Official Flagship Store", which was certified as "Siyang Tuohe E-commerce Co., Ltd.", was still in normal operation, and the number of fans reached 221000.

Although the sales revenue of the live streaming room involved accounts for a very low proportion of the total revenue of Haihe Dairy, with sales of only 100000 to 250000 yuan in the past 30 days, the brand reputation damage caused is difficult to measure in monetary terms.

In response to this crisis, Haihe Dairy has announced the adoption of multiple emergency measures: immediately terminating its live streaming cooperation with the involved distributors and revoking its official authorization qualification as the "Haihe Milk Flagship Store"; Initiate legal proceedings to pursue legal responsibility for any damage to the brand image; At the same time, those who fail to comply with internal supervision regulations and discipline will be dealt with seriously.

In addition, the company announced that it will conduct a full channel investigation of all authorized distribution stores' live streaming rooms from today onwards, comprehensively standardize the process of live streaming content review and personnel management, and promise to improve the partner screening mechanism and content full process review system, resolutely preventing the recurrence of vulgar and illegal phenomena. But whether this measure can truly be implemented and rebuild consumer trust remains to be seen.

According to the "Administrative Measures for Online Live Streaming Marketing", "Advertising Law", and "Law on the Protection of Minors" of the People's Republic of China, the behavior involved has multiple illegal acts. The use of sexual suggestive remarks and indecent actions by anchors to promote products is considered vulgar and illegal marketing, and may result in account suspension, recovery of illegal gains, and suspension of anchors from the industry. Spreading harmful information to minors shall be punished severely in accordance with the law. After the intervention of the Market Supervision Bureau, if violations are found, it may be ordered to suspend business for rectification, confiscate illegal gains, and impose high fines.

As the brand owner, Haihe Milk authorizes its distributors to use its trademark for promotion, and assumes joint and several liability, and cannot be exempted from liability as "non direct sales". At the same time, if the platform fails to fulfill its audit and regulatory obligations, it will also face fines and rectification.

Don't let bad live streaming damage brand building

This incident once again sounded the alarm for all time-honored brands: in the wave of digital transformation, how to effectively regulate the online behavior of authorized dealers and ensure that marketing content complies with public order, good customs, and laws and regulations is a serious issue that brand owners must face.

In today's increasingly popular live streaming sales, while traffic is important, the bottom line cannot be crossed. Any attempt to attract attention through vulgar and pornographic content will ultimately face market condemnation and legal sanctions.

As an irreplaceable core asset of enterprises, brands form competitive barriers through long-term accumulation of consumer cognition, emotional connections, and cultural value accumulation, and their strategic position is increasingly prominent in the era of traffic economy. The accumulation of brand value requires the practice of long termism, including the cognitive accumulation of specific historical backgrounds and cultural stories that require decades of cycles.

However, the collapse of brand reputation and "corporate image" may occur in a very short period of time, especially in today's increasingly popular live streaming sales. Some live streaming behaviors that step on the "red line" may lead to the instant "zero" of market reputation and image accumulated by some old brands for years or even decades, which is regrettable.

In this incident, Haihe Dairy emphasized in a statement that as a Chinese time-honored brand enterprise, adhering to quality and ethical bottom line is the foundation of brand development, and will never betray its original intention for traffic. However, in actual operation, effective behavioral constraints were not imposed on live streaming e-commerce partners in advance, and even in order to attract attention and increase traffic, they chose to turn a blind eye and condone illegal activities, ultimately reaping the consequences themselves.

For Haihe Dairy, the urgent task is to establish a long-term cooperative supervision mechanism, safeguard the brand and reputation of time-honored brands, protect the physical and mental health of minors, and minimize the adverse effects of this incident, rather than just terminating cooperation with bad live streaming rooms.

Live streaming e-commerce is rooted in the real economy and grows within it. It is not only a component of the real economy, but also an enabler of it. However, the unethical behavior of some live streaming e-commerce platforms and the risk of losing control of their content have caused great harm to the development of the real economy and dealt a devastating blow to the brand economy, which must be resolutely resisted.

Live streaming sales are strictly prohibited from outside the law. Traffic must adhere to the bottom line, protect the interests of minors and the public, and effectively provide positive empowerment for brand owners, which is the long-term solution.