An investor in Wanglibao Financial Management APP said that he started investing after seeing advertisements for the financial management APP endorsed by Du Haitao from 2017 to 2018, and has so far lost more than 1.2 million yuan. Some victims posted in Du Haitao’s sister’s live broadcast room, “Your brother’s endorsement of Netlibao has caused us so much misery.” Then the off-screen assistant said: "No one is forcing you to do it. This matter is your own decision and has nothing to do with Haitao…" After the assistant said, Du Haitao's sister said "You deserve it" twice in a row. Later, Du Haitao's sister issued an apology for inappropriate remarks during the live broadcast and stated that she would terminate her live broadcast.
Was administratively punished for advertising implying capital preservation
Reporters learned from Qichacha that the affiliated company of "Wanglibao" is Beijing Wangli Technology Co., Ltd., which was administratively fined 100,000 yuan in June 2016 and 10,000 yuan in November 2018. The types of illegal acts were "advertisers publish advertisements for goods or services with guaranteed promises about future effects, earnings or related situations, express or implied investment promotions with guaranteed capital, no risk or guaranteed returns, etc., and other investment returns with expected return on investment." On June 28 and June 29, 2020, the company also added 2 new pieces of information on persons subject to execution, and the cumulative execution targets exceeded 100,000.
Qichacha data also shows that "Wanglibao" was launched in September 2014. The senior management team has many years of management experience in the financial field and has held important positions in investment banking institutions such as Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and Standard Chartered Bank. In February 2014, "Wanglibao" received Series A investment from the international venture capital IDG Capital; in May 2015, "Wanglibao" received Series B investment from Hongli Zhihui, an A-share listed company; in 2017, "Wanglibao" won "No. 19 among China's High-tech Fast Growth 50" and "No. 42 among Asia's High-tech Fast 500 in 2017" issued by Deloitte, one of the world's four largest accounting firms.
Do celebrities who endorse financial management products frequently go viral? Do celebrities bear corresponding responsibilities?
Recently, financial management apps endorsed by well-known celebrities have become popular. Celebrity endorsements have been pushed to the forefront and become a widely discussed topic among the public. Previously there were Lei Jiayin, Wang Han, Liu Guoliang, and this time it was Hunan Satellite TV host Du Haitao.
The reporter once consulted a lawyer for advice on whether celebrities need to bear corresponding responsibilities if problems arise when they endorse financial products. The lawyer responded that under normal circumstances, spokespersons are not responsible for illegal and criminal activities caused by advertisers' illegal operations. However, under special circumstances, the spokesperson should bear corresponding civil or criminal liability for his or her endorsement behavior. For example, if you know that others are engaging in fund-raising fraud but still provide advertising services to them, you may constitute an accomplice in the crime of fund-raising fraud.
Lawyer Luo Shuangjiang from Jiangsu Zhuoran Law Firm told reporters that there are currently different views in the legal community regarding the legal liability of advertising spokespersons. Paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 56 of the Advertising Law distinguish two situations of liability for advertising spokespersons based on the nature of the endorsed products. One is false advertising of goods or services that are related to consumers’ life and health, and the other is false advertising of goods or services that are not related to consumers’ life and health.
For the former type, the law provides more favorable protection for consumers, that is, as long as the spokesperson endorses false advertising, he will be jointly and severally liable with the advertiser, and the no-fault principle will apply. For endorsement of goods or services that are not related to the life and health of consumers, the advertising spokesperson is required to bear liability only if the advertising spokesperson knew or should have known.
Celebrities such as Wang Han and Du Haitao endorse products or services that are not related to consumers’ lives and health. If you want them to take responsibility in this situation, there is a subjective question of whether they "knew or should have known". Whether they subjectively knew or should have known that the products or services they endorsed were illegal or illegal has nothing to do with when they endorsed them. Lawyer Luo Shuangjiang believes that in comparison, celebrities who are advertising spokespersons generally do not have complete information, have limited understanding of products, and have a weak ability to judge the authenticity of P2P. Although celebrities may not have the ability to conduct substantive reviews of relevant products, they should fulfill the most basic formal review obligations before endorsing products, and should conscientiously perform their advertising review responsibilities stipulated in relevant laws and administrative regulations.
