Comics/Li Xiaojun
● The video price of celebrity blessing is divided into four grades: within 1000 yuan, from 1000 yuan to 3,000 yuan, from 3,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan, and above 5,000 yuan. Artists with the highest bid of 200,000 yuan include Wu Mou, Chen Mou, Tang Mou, etc. The recording time is 10 seconds to 15 seconds.
● On the network platform, there is an industrial chain where stars charge by recording blessing videos. On the one hand, individuals and businesses have needs, but there is no star channel. On the other hand, some popular artists need to earn extra money, which is a survival channel for new artists or out-of-date artists.
● This kind of behavior itself constitutes a commercial transaction between the star and the object of blessing. The former exchanges money through blessing, while the latter exchanges face or social influence with payment.
● Relevant departments should conduct normative guidance on commercial behaviors such as sending videos of blessings by stars, and guide stars to do a good job of screening, instead of acting as "meat horns" for those who violate the law and lose their morality.
□ Our reporter Zhao Li
□ Intern of this newspaper Wan Peng
Recently, a number of stars recorded the video topic of birthday greetings and boarded a hot search, which triggered a heated discussion among netizens. The reason is that the object of the blessing video is suspected to be a member of the North Myanmar fraud family.
Subsequently, a number of artists involved recorded videos to apologize to the public. Some artists said that the matter originated from a friend’s entrustment a long time ago, and the blessing video was recorded due to the kindness. Some artists also said that this was the arrangement of the broker, and they did not know the specific use of the blessing video in advance.
Star blessing video is nothing new. In recent years, some enterprises and businesses often ask stars to "support the scene", and broadcast the video of the star’s blessing at the opening ceremony, annual meeting, investment promotion meeting and other occasions, and even some individuals broadcast the video of the star’s blessing at wedding and birthday parties.
An interview with the reporter of "Rule of Law Daily" found that there is an industrial chain behind the star blessing video, which consists of stars, brokers, middlemen and demanders. The recording price of the blessing video generally ranges from thousands of yuan to 1.2 million yuan.
The experts interviewed believe that if the object of blessing is an individual, it cannot be managed as an advertisement under the framework of the current advertising law. If the blessed object is not only an individual, but also directly or indirectly includes goods or services, then it can be considered as an advertisement to be managed and regulated by the advertising law.
Selling blessing videos at high prices
The order does not include tax and no invoice.
"Real-life shooting, refusing to synthesize, full coverage of star network", "10 years of senior agents, no bad reviews" and "first-hand resources, 100% star direct signing".
The reporter entered the "Star Blessing Video" on the online e-commerce platform, and the search results showed that all kinds of blessing video services were available.
The reporter randomly opened five merchants, and their scores of "baby description", "seller service" and "logistics service" were all above 4.8 points, and they were marked as "high" by the e-commerce platform.
In one store named ×× Culture Media, its blessing video service includes 11 categories, such as birthday, New Year, annual meeting, opening, activities, investment promotion and real estate. According to the customer service of the store, the first-line big coffee, second-line stars and online celebrities are matched with high school and low school to meet the needs of different customers.
The list provided by customer service to reporters shows that prices and services are divided into different grades. For example, the price of celebrity blessing videos is divided into four grades: within 1000 yuan, from 1000 yuan to 3,000 yuan, from 3,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan, and above 5,000 yuan. Customers can also choose personal services and commercial services for artists, and the corresponding charging standards are also different. Some artists are labeled as "exclusive artists".
Among them, artists with the highest bid of 200,000 yuan include Wu Mou, Chen Mou and Tang.
According to the reporter’s statistics, the number of stars given by the store is 412.
The customer service of the store told the reporter that the recorded copy can be provided by itself or the template can be used, and the length of time is generally 10 seconds to 15 seconds. After determining which artist recorded it, you need to pay first. The fees charged do not include tax, and customers need to bear 3% tax point if they invoice.
The reporter also saw on the publicity pages of other stores that the video order of star blessing does not include tax and does not invoice.
When the reporter asked if the blessing video of the big-name star was shot by the star himself, the customer service replied, "Everything is true, if you are the one."
However, some sellers said that many online blessing videos are represented by agents, and there are few stores that sell star blessing videos.
The reporter saw in the sample provided by a store customer service that the blessing content included a star wishing a company to be established, and some stars directly said "I am very happy to be the spokesperson of a brand".
In this regard, the reporter asked a number of store customers about "If you invite a star to record a video of blessing the opening of a hot pot restaurant, can you ask the star to be the spokesperson of the hot pot restaurant?" Some store customers said that they could not record a blessing video related to the "spokesperson", and some store customers said that they needed to communicate and negotiate with the star team, and at the same time, merchants needed to provide a series of proof materials such as business license, product trademark and business qualification.
When the reporter asked about the recording cycle, the customer service of the relevant store said that it usually takes 3 to 5 days to complete. The process is roughly as follows: selecting artists, placing orders on the platform, providing blessing words, arranging artists to shoot, and collecting films.
According to the star quotation tables provided by different stores, the reporter found that the quotations of the same star in different stores are also different. Take an old singer recording a blessing video as an example, the prices in three stores are 4,800 yuan, 5,000 yuan and 5,200 yuan respectively.
One side wants fame and the other wants profit.
Relationship between supply and demand into industrial chain
An artist agent bluntly told reporters that there is an industrial chain on the online platform where stars charge by recording blessing videos. On the one hand, individuals and businesses have needs, but there is no star channel; On the other hand, some popular artists need to earn extra money, which is a survival channel for new artists or out-of-date artists.
So, how is the industrial chain of star blessing video formed?
"Star blessing videos have a great market, depending on whether artists are willing to enter. For example, some enterprises or individuals just like the way stars send their blessings. For stars, as long as the studio is willing to pick up, signature photos, photo image cooperation and online short video recording are all charging methods. In the sinking market, there are also some on-site activities that can be charged. For example, corporate ceremonies require a star platform, a simple handshake meeting (stars sit at the event site, fans shake hands one by one), and even stars attend weddings to send blessings. " A senior person in the entertainment circle revealed.
It is understood that this industrial chain consists of stars, brokers, middlemen, demanders and other links, especially in some waist actors, online celebrity and out-of-date star circles. Compared with filming TV dramas or performing on stage, recording blessing videos is a quick and simple way for this group of people to get benefits.
Regarding the basis of video pricing, some insiders revealed that at the beginning, artists had their own expectations. After recording the blessing video and getting it to the market, after many sales negotiations, a relatively stable market pricing was formed.
A person in charge of an enterprise who has purchased the video service of Blessing told reporters that many enterprises suffer from low product awareness and narrow sales, and hope to find some famous stars to promote their products in this way.
Yu Feng, a researcher at the Legislative and Rule of Law Strategy Research Center of East China Normal University, who has written "Entertainment Law" and other works, believes that in recent years, many small and medium-sized enterprises often appear in promotional videos of annual meetings, business opening, investment promotion meetings and other occasions, and even in some personal weddings and birthday banquets, there will be videos of well-known artists’ blessings. If the star knows the object of blessing thoroughly, and the object of blessing is usually well-behaved, it is not bad for the star to bless it and get a certain reward.
However, in Yu Feng’s view, if the star doesn’t know the true identity of the blessing object and what he usually does, it will mislead the public if the blessing object is a lawbreaker.
"The greater the influence, the more you need to do your duty of care to avoid misleading others. As a public figure, the star’s words and deeds facing the public have obvious demonstration effects. " Yu Feng said that this kind of behavior itself constitutes a commercial transaction between the star and the object of blessing. The former exchanges money through blessing, while the latter exchanges face or social influence with payment.
Then, is it illegal for celebrities to celebrate the birthday of family members suspected of fraud?
Wu Zikun, a lawyer of Beijing Xingquan Law Firm, believes that if the video content only includes birthday wishes, and the star does not know in advance the illegal and criminal acts that others may constitute, then the recording behavior and the recording content itself do not violate the law. If the content of the video recorded by a star does not belong to or has obviously exceeded the scope of birthday wishes, and the individual or enterprise that obtained the video has committed illegal and criminal acts, then the specific situation of the video recorded by the star should be analyzed, that is, whether the star knows the illegal and criminal acts of the video recording object, whether the recorded content is substantially related to the illegal and criminal acts, etc., and the corresponding evidence is needed to support it, so as to judge whether the behavior recorded by the star is suspected of constituting a joint crime.
Yu Feng believes that if you know that the other party is engaged in illegal and criminal activities, you should still record a blessing video. At this time, you should make a concrete analysis of the content of the blessing video to judge the nature of the behavior of recording the blessing video and whether you should bear the corresponding legal responsibilities. "For example, whether the video content is related to illegal and criminal activities, and whether there is direct or indirect intention to help illegal and criminal activities through videos."
Involving products is regarded as endorsement.
Manage according to advertisements.
The recording of blessing videos by artists not only brings benefits, but also risks.
In July, 2020, a large number of investors reported on social networks that they had not paid the loan money for the favorable network platform after it expired, and they also shouted under the social account of artist Yang Di, calling on him to speak out for the favorable network platform event. Because Yang Di had previously made a blessing video for the favorable network platform.
Subsequently, Yang Di issued a statement on his social account, saying that he helped the propagandist record the video during the film promotion period, and was not a spokesperson for the favorable network platform, and he did not charge any fees for recording the video. He will assist users who have been deceived by this incident to pursue the platform responsibility, and deeply apologize to those who have suffered losses due to video recommendation.
Then, is it the artist’s obligation to know the object of blessing before sending out the blessing?
In Yu Feng’s view, from the perspective of pure commercial transactions, it is difficult to find out the compulsory obligation that stars must know the object of blessing in advance under the current legal framework. However, from the general moral point of view, because of the particularity of identity and influence, stars do not have some basic understanding of the object of blessing at all, and it is not advisable to hold a mentality of "having milk is a mother" and "earning one vote is one vote". After all, problems will hurt their reputation.
Yu Feng believes that artists should follow the basic common sense and bottom line to make some basic understanding from the level of moral obligation when recording blessing videos as stars and acting as guests of opening ceremonies and weddings, but it is not recommended to impose "in-depth" understanding on artists.
"The reason is that ‘ In-depth ’ The boundary is blurred. To be completely ‘ In-depth ’ In terms of time, manpower and material resources, it may not be a bottomless pit, and it will never be filled. " Yu Feng said that it is difficult to answer this question, even difficult to have an in-depth understanding of who is the authoritative operator. For example, should an ordinary staff member be entrusted with in-depth understanding, or must an independent third party be entrusted with in-depth understanding, or must a lawyer be hired to conduct in-depth understanding according to the standards of legal due diligence?
The reporter also noted that some people in the industry believe that providing personal blessing videos by stars can be regarded as economic behavior of fans, but when they cooperate with enterprises, because of their celebrity effect, they are actually using a pan-advertising language and a positive statement to imply or express that this product should be promoted, which is essentially an advertising endorsement behavior.
However, in Yu Feng’s view, it is not appropriate to draw an equal sign directly between an artist’s public blessing for others and his endorsement for the object of blessing. Because endorsement, its daily semantics refers to the meaning of "speaking on behalf of" and "speaking on behalf of"; A star’s public blessing for others cannot be directly equated with a star’s "speaking for the object of blessing" or "speaking for the object of blessing".
"Endorsement, understood in the context of advertising law, is related to ‘ Advertising ’ And ‘ People ’ Synthesize into a proper legal term — — ‘ Advertising spokesperson ’ It means a natural person, legal person or other organization that recommends and proves goods and services in its own name or image, except advertisers. " Yu Feng said that because the object of blessing is others, neither goods nor services, it is difficult to classify the stars who send blessings as advertising spokespersons.
However, some netizens suggested that if the stars mentioned each other’s specific enterprise or product name in the recorded blessing video, would it have the nature of celebrity endorsement advertising?
In this regard, Yu Feng gave a positive answer. "If specific enterprises are explicitly mentioned, it has the advertising nature of celebrity endorsements. The reason is that both corporate spokespersons and brand spokespersons can ultimately be attributed to directly or indirectly recommending and proving goods and services." Yu Feng said.
"If the object of blessing is an individual, then it cannot be managed as an advertisement under the framework of the current advertising law. If the blessed object is not only an individual, but also directly or indirectly includes goods or services, then it can be considered as an advertisement to be managed and adjusted by the advertising law. " Yu Feng said.
As a public figure, artists should be strict with themselves and treat their actions cautiously, which has become the consensus of the interviewed experts.
Regarding how to be cautious and self-disciplined, Yu Feng believes that there are two points to pay attention to: "As far as blessing videos are concerned, on the one hand, media supervision and social supervision are carried out through exposure, and reputation is the fulcrum, which affects the behavior choices of stars; On the other hand, self-discipline rules can be formulated through industry autonomous organizations to provide normative guidance for stars’ prudent self-discipline. "
Some insiders also suggested that the relevant departments should give normative guidance to commercial behaviors such as sending videos of blessings by stars, and guide the stars to do a good job of screening and not act as "meat horns" for those who violate the law and lose their morality. As a group with high social influence and a large number of fans, artists should maintain a stricter sense of social responsibility and cherish their feathers.
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