I just had a quick interview with a journalist to talk about #Temu, the low-cost, ultra-fast fashion drop-shipping e-commerce website I would dare to call a scam. There are just so many things wrong with this company! • Aggressive marketing tactics: they use intensive advertising and aggressive promotions to bait customers. Business Insider reports they are the #1 advertiser on Meta, with $2B ad spend (!!!), and #5 on Google. • Psychological manipulation: countdown timers, false discounts, false inventory numbers, false reviews—all to create a sense of urgency. Also, it has been reported that rave reviews on TikTok were actually fake… • Gamification akin to a Ponzi scheme: their gamified shopping experience encourages users to spend more time on the app, play games and make impulsive purchases. They also have strong incentives to entice friends and family to join the platform in exchange for free items (this aspect is very similar to Ponzi!); • Data privacy: there have been allegations of aggressive data collection practices, similar to TikTok. It is estimated they could lose $40 per purchase because they flip around and sell the data… • Ethical and quality issues: poor quality, misleading product information, false reviews, counterfeit products, unsafe toys, banned chemicals in clothing… There are also concerns about the ethics surrounding the conditions in which products are made. And since it’s drop shipping, delivery can be heavily delayed or never happen… In France, a new law bans ultra-fast fashion and ads like those from Temu could become illegal. In the US, the BBB rates them at C—(mediocre). And when they get caught doing something, they either dismiss it completely or claim they have taken corrective actions (such as removing counterfeit products or unsafe ones). If we worry about TikTok, we should also worry about the likes of Temu and Shein. As Christopher Wylie—the Cambridge Analytica whistle-blower—once told me: “…to change politics, you need to change culture. And fashion trends are a useful proxy for that.” Clearly, TikTok, Shein, Temu are all directly tied to culture... #marketing #marketingethics #dataprivacy #ecommerce #China