"Australia Usiyee" incident continues to escalate, SuoXiang Company responds: staff exaggerated statements, sincerely apologizes

Hongxing Capital Bureau, April 4: At around 23:00 on April 3, another party involved in the “fake endorsement” controversy surrounding “Australian Usiuyi”—Hangzhou Suoxiang Marketing Planning Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Suoxiang Co.”)—issued a statement.

In its statement, Suoxiang Co. said that the interview personnel mentioned in the CCTV report conducted business consultations in the capacity of a potential customer. During the consultation process, in order to win business, its staff did indeed engage in improper conduct such as exaggerating the scope of services and delivery outcomes—for example, describing “planning advice” as “actual execution,” and describing “brand image packaging” as “product origin packaging,” among others.

In response, Suoxiang Co. clarified that the brand did not commission our company to find professors at Australian universities or medical doctors to provide endorsements; nor did it commission our company to apply for relevant international awards or to do any “packaging” work.

Photo provided by Visual China

The statement said, “Our personnel’s improper remarks are imprecise, exaggerated expressions in the sales process, not facts. However, our company has absolutely no subjective intent to slander the Usiuyi brand representative or to deliberately spread false information. For the misunderstandings and adverse effects caused by these improper remarks, our company sincerely apologizes.”

Suoxiang Co. also said that it began cooperating with the Usiuyi brand representative (Guangzhou Yalayan Health Industry Co., Ltd.) at the end of May 2023, with the end time being March 2024. The service content provided was limited only to front-end brand planning services such as brand positioning upgrade, brand visual creativity, and packaging design.

At the same time, Suoxiang Co. stated that it delivered creative results based on product-related proof materials provided by the brand representative (including but not limited to Australian TGA certification, etc.), and that there is no intention to engage in subjective false advertising. “Our company did not participate in the product production of this brand, supply chain management, sales channel operations, nor did it participate in any advertising placements, e-commerce platform promotions, or livestream sales activities.”

Suoxiang Co. also said that this incident has caused distress to people from all sectors of society, for which it sincerely apologizes, and that it will take this as a lesson to deeply reflect and make immediate rectifications: comprehensively review existing customer service content to prevent any form of exaggerated promotion; strengthen employee compliance training to standardize business communication methods, etc.

Hongxing Capital Bureau noted that earlier on April 3, another party involved in this incident, Australian Usiuyi, issued a statement saying that the company did not commission Suoxiang Co. in Zhejiang to find university professors in Australia or medical doctors for endorsements, nor to apply for and “package” awards related to such applications; these applications were completed by the company itself. In light of the public-opinion impact caused by the Zhejiang Suoxiang company’s inaccurate statements, the company has sent a lawyer’s letter to the Zhejiang Suoxiang company and initiated a lawsuit.

In its statement, Australian Usiuyi said that it has submitted all relevant materials and information in full to the regulatory authorities, and that it will actively cooperate with the investigation going forward, awaiting the publication of the results of a public and fair investigation.

According to an earlier report by CCTV News, after the headquarters exposed the chaos surrounding “imported” health products branded Usiuyi, the Hangzhou market regulatory department in Zhejiang launched an investigation into Hangzhou Suoxiang Marketing Planning Co., Ltd. involved in the matter. It has retrieved relevant materials such as service content and fund flows, and is currently interviewing relevant responsible persons to verify the relevant data. At present, the market regulatory department has filed a case for investigation into the company’s alleged advertising violations. In addition, the market regulatory department has also filed cases for investigation into the advertising violations allegedly involving Hangzhou Shesou E-commerce Co., Ltd. and Hangzhou Aidesida Media Technology Co., Ltd. mentioned in the report.

Hongxing News reporter Yang Peiwen

Editor Xiao Shiqing