Tinghua liquor's health claims fell apart on CCTV's 3·15 gala — ¥1.8M fine followed

Tinghua, a premium baijiu from listed company Qinghai Spring — whose earlier cordyceps business had been halted by regulators in 2016 — sold at ¥5,860 a bottle, with an export-only tier listed at ¥58,600. Its marketing pitched the ordinary food-grade liquor as improving immunity, sleep, male sexual performance and physiological disorder, and fighting aging, on the strength of what it called international patents.

CCTV's 2024 3·15 consumer-rights gala reported that the patents were not recognised, that the touted cooling agent was ordinary mint extract, and that the claims broke advertising law, which bars liquor ads from implying health benefits. The same evening, the Shanghai Stock Exchange sent Qinghai Spring a regulatory work letter over the illegal advertising.

Regulators followed: the Chengdu Wuhou district market regulator issued a penalty notice on 15 March and fined Tinghua's sales subsidiary ¥1.8 million in late April under anti-unfair-competition law, ordering the promotion to stop. E-commerce platforms pulled the product; the brand's official account was blocked. Qinghai Spring, loss-making four years running, was given the risk-warning 'ST' designation a month later.