In a video published on China's microblogging platform Weibo in early January, a woman from Changchun, Jilin Province, claimed that her mother was fascinated by a livestream sales host and had bought many things while watching his channel. Her purchases included a 399-yuan ($55.5) mink fur coat, which the host claimed had sold for tens of thousands of yuan (thousands of dollars) originally, and a 2,888-yuan ($401.4) watch. 

In response to the video, many netizens shared similar experiences of their parents splurging in livestream sales rooms.

Jewelry is one of the most common products bought by seniors on livestreaming platforms. A netizen from Hubei Province posted photos of jewelry recently bought by his father from a livestream seller. He said in the post that his father's living room is filled with packages of jewelry he has purchased from livestreamers. What is more worrying is that his father wholeheartedly believes the story fabricated by the livestream host to sell the jewelry. According to the host, the jewelry is being sold at a low price because the business owner has run into difficulties and needs money badly.

In addition to jewelry, antiques, calligraphy works and paintings are also popular purchases among the elderly. In some live broadcasting rooms, paintings and antiques which the hosts claim cost tens of thousands of yuan originally, are sold for only several hundred yuan (dozens of dollars).

One netizen said his father had spent over 10,000 yuan ($1,390) on more than 50 paintings and antiques. One of these paintings was claimed to be the work of master artist Xu Beihong (1895-1953) and sold for only 1,099 yuan ($152.8).

Many seniors buy the jewelry, antiques and paintings with the hope that they will appreciate in value, as this is often what the livestream hosts tell them. Many do not stop to think about whether bargains such as a palm-sized gold ingot selling for 400 yuan ($55.6) might be too good to be true.

Tall tales, high sales 

Some livestream sellers specifically target older people and follow certain prepared scripts and ways of talking to trick seniors into buying their products. These scripts are even sold on e-commerce platforms, with a set costing around 5 yuan ($0.7).

The hosts usually call the older viewers "father" and "mother" and often employ a plot involving the livestream host bargaining with a representative of the company producing the products, trying to negotiate deep discounts for consumers. But in many cases, both the representative and the company are made up. Sometimes, the pantomime haggling becomes so heated the representative storms out of the live broadcasting room in anger. After several rounds of such bargaining and quarreling, some viewers are convinced it is a good deal and make purchases.

Every March 15, World Consumer Rights Day, state broadcaster China Central Television hosts the "315 Gala," a televised event in which unscrupulous and fraudulent sellers are publicly exposed. Last year, the program exposed multiple cases of livestream hosts trying to sell "magic drugs" to elderly people by appealing to their sympathy and gullibility.

In one of the livestreams, the host, Ma Hongliang, claimed that a product was made from the snow lotus, a rare plant found in high-altitude ecosystems and believed to have healing effects. He alleged that the snow lotus can cure cancer and can be harvested only once in nine years. In reality, the product he sold only contains a type of food that has no medicinal value.

In the three months following last year's "315 Gala," Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, deleted more than 1,000 videos and shut down more than 3,000 accounts related to improper marketing by fabricating stories and eliciting sympathy from viewers.

A rising force of consumption 

Livestreaming e-commerce, also known as live-commerce, is targeting older citizens because of their increasingly active online presence.

According to the China Internet Network Information Center, the number of netizens in China had reached 1.067 billion by December 2022, with those aged 50 or above accounting for 30.8 percent of the total, a significant increase from only 5.7 percent in 2008.

A report released by enterprise social media management platform KAWO in May 2023 revealed that the number of users aged 50 or above was the fastest increasing demographic group on social media platforms in 2022, increasing by more than 20 percent year on year on short video platforms Douyin and Kuaishou. The report showed that social media platforms were taking up most of older citizens' time online. About 80 percent of those aged 60 or above spent 1.5 hours or more browsing short video platforms every day.

In addition to their increasingly active online presence, older citizens also have strong purchasing power. According to a report by market consultancy QuestMobile released in April 2022, those aged 51 or above accounted for 19 percent of livestream viewers on Douyin and Kuaishou and nearly 30 percent of this group had a monthly disposable income of more than 2,000 yuan ($278).

The aging population opens up many business opportunities. According to a report on the development of China's silver economy released by the Fudan Institute on Aging, the scale of the silver economy will reach 19 trillion yuan ($2.6 trillion) by 2035, accounting for 28 percent of total consumption. 

Better protection 

As older citizens become increasingly active online, safeguarding their rights and interests and protecting them from online fraud is requiring more attention.

The Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, China's top Internet watchdog, issued a circular on strengthening self-media (particularly non-institutional content providers on social media platforms such as Weixin and Weibo) management in July 2023, emphasizing the responsibility of websites and online platforms for supervision of the content they host.

The circular said self-media accounts cannot distort facts or publish counterfeit information. Those accounts involving the aforementioned malpractices will face punishment, including being banned.

Short video platforms should shoulder the responsibility for supervising livestream hosts, including reviewing their qualifications and regulating their conduct, Xia Hailong, a lawyer from Shanghai Excellence Law Firm, told Chinanews.com last September.

Liu Xiaochun, Director of the Internet Rule of Law Research Center of the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, suggested short video platforms use algorithms to alert older users of fake contents.

In addition to platforms, children of seniors also have a role to play. Zhang Wenjuan, an associate professor of aging at the School of Sociology and Population Studies at Renmin University of China, told The Economic Observer newspaper in October last year that senior users should be allowed to link their accounts with their children's so that the latter can monitor their parents' activity online and warn them about misleading content when necessary.

(Print Edition Title: Sales Seduction) 

Copyedited by G.P. Wilson 

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