寶潔因虛假廣告在中國被罰

Procter & Gamble became the latest multinational company to face scrutiny from the Chinese authorities after the Shanghai government imposed a fine for what regulators said was false advertising.

寶潔(Procter & Gamble)成爲最新一家面臨中國政府審查的跨國企業，此前上海市監管部門因該公司涉嫌監管部門所說的虛假廣告對其予以處罰。

The Shanghai Municipal Administration of Industry and Commerce imposed a Rmb6m ($958,000) fine, described by state news agency Xinhua as the largest of its kind on record in China

上海市工商行政管理局對寶潔處以600萬元人民幣(合95.8萬美元)的罰款，國有新聞通訊社新華社稱這是中國針對虛假廣告的最大罰單。

The Shanghai watchdog said the brand overstated some claims about its Crest toothpaste and digitally altered images used in advertising to make teeth look whiter.

上海市工商行政管理局表示，寶潔誇大了有關佳潔士(Crest)牙膏的一些宣傳，經過數字處理改變了廣告中的圖像，讓牙齒變得更白。

Crest said on its official microblog that the advert had not been aired since the middle of last year.

佳潔士在其官方微博上稱，這則廣告自去年年中起已停播。

China’s regulators have recently stepped up scrutiny on both foreign and local companies across a broad range of areas, imposing increasingly aggressive fines for anti-monopolistic conduct to protect the interests of consumers. China imposed a Rmb6.1bn fine on Qualcomm earlier this year, in the country’s biggest antitrust case to date.

中國監管機構最近加大了對多個行業的中外企業的審查，針對反壟斷行爲徵收越來越高的罰金，以保護消費者利益。今年早些時候，中國對高通(Qualcomm)處以61億元人民幣罰款，爲中國迄今處罰金額最高的反壟斷案。

Although P&G’s fine is far smaller, the move reflects a desire on the part of Chinese authorities to improve enforcement of consumer protection laws, said retail analysts.

零售分析師表示，儘管寶潔的罰款金額小的多，但此舉反映出中國政府希望加強消費者保護法的執行力度。

“I think the impact on Crest’s market share will be very limited,” said Gao Jianfeng, consumer analyst with Shanghai-based Bogo Consultants, pointing out that there was no suggestion that the toothpaste could be harmful.

總部位於上海的博蓋諮詢(Bogo Consultants)消費行業分析師高劍鋒表示：“我認爲這對佳潔士市場份額的影響將非常有限。”他指出，此案沒有提到這款牙膏可能對人體有害。

But it is likely to have a big impact on the advertising and marketing strategies of personal care and cosmetics companies “that still largely depend on TV commercials that exaggerate the effect of their products”, he said. “Now they will have to be more cautious”.

但他表示，這可能會對個人護理和化妝品公司的廣告和營銷戰略產生巨大影響，這些公司“仍基本上依賴電視廣告誇大其產品效果，”“如今他們不得不更爲謹慎”。

Ben Cavender of China Market Research in Shanghai said the fine could “set a precedent”.

上海諮詢公司CMR(China Market Research)的本•卡文德(Ben Cavender)表示，此次罰款可能會“開創先例”。

“Using P&G as a target shows that the government is serious about enforcement and that it may not turn a blind eye towards spurious product claims any more. Given how questionable a lot of the advertising we see in China is, this is probably a good thing”, he said.

他表示：“把寶潔作爲靶子顯示出中國政府對於執法態度嚴肅，他們可能不會再對虛假產品宣傳視而不見了。鑑於我們在中國看到的很多廣告都存在問題，這可能是件好事。”

Yan Qiang, retail analyst at Beijing’s Adfaith Consulting, points out that the fine is very small by global standards. “But what everyone should be aware of is that the legal environment in China is changing and the law enforcers are starting to show their teeth. It won’t be surprising if one day the standards in China are as high as those in US or UK,” he said.

北京正略鈞策(Adfaith Consulting)零售業分析師閆強指出，從全球標準來看，此次罰款金額非常小。他表示：“但所有人都應明白，中國的法律環境正在發生變化，執法者正變得嚴厲。如果有一天中國的標準變得與英美一樣高，那也是毫不奇怪的。”