On the evening of 12 July, Luo Wangyu, one of the top Douyin (TikTok’s Chinese sister app) livestreamers for beauty announced he would take a break from livestreaming, with the possibility of not returning. The same announcement points out the reason – he will be refunding all who purchased the Cosmetic Skin Solutions (CSS) Olive Serum out of his own pocket. So, what happened?
The Olive Serum saga started earlier this year when the streamer with 20 million followers was selling this product on his channels. On 24 February, a Douyin test and review streamer Dahu released a video, testing skincare products from various brands, all of which purport to contain olive extract. However, four of the six products contain low quantities of oleuropein and hydroxytyrosol, two chemical compounds that should be present if olive extracts are used. Surprisingly, the CSS products did not show any sign of either substance, even after a second test with an independent institution, prompting the streamer to conclude it contained no olive extract.
Luo Wangyu first responded by saying that these are only two compounds from the complex olive extract, it is possible to not contain them but still have olive in it and also gave the names of the suppliers Essential and Lipotec. But after Dahu gave more evidence, Luo responded by suing CSS. He claimed that if the products were substandard, CSS would refund everyone if he won, and he would refund out of pocket if he lost. However, according to Luo, as the lawsuit took too long to process, CSS would not budge or settle because it had sold too many of the serums, which was worth 150 million RMB (20.66 million USD) through Luo alone. Luo Wangyu ultimately gave in to pressure and made the aforementioned announcement.
Since last year, top streamers have been constantly haunted by controversy. From price to quality and even attitude. This has caused many of them to diversify and distance themselves from streaming, such as Li Jiaqi and Crazy Little Brother Yang. Platforms are also trying to diversify by introducing merchant-led livestreams and simple discount strategies. Some pundits have been saying since last year that the golden age of influencer livestreaming social commerce has passed. But it remains to be seen if it will just evolve into the next phase.
