During the "6.18" promotion in 2024, Dettol, a disinfection and sterilization brand, handed over the answer sheet. According to the data, the turnover of Dettol reached 240 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.4%, and a number of star products such as disinfectant and clothing sterilization liquid won the sales crown of the whole network.
Behind this, it is inseparable from the all-weather media screen rotation of nearly 250,000 points in 10 cities across the country. On social platforms, many big V bloggers and KOL planters are also standing up for Dettol, and the brand frequently appears in entries such as "Daily Necessities Hoarding List" and "618 Must Buy Good Things", which is quite popular with consumers.
But while broadening the reach of the audience, the outside world has become more and more skeptical of Dettol. First of all, it was criticized for making a big fuss during the epidemic and raising prices one after another, and then it was accused of low cost and toxin content of the main active ingredients, and recently caused consumer dissatisfaction due to the proliferation of "fake goods".
Dettol, which claims to have been at the forefront of environmental and personal hygiene protection for 90 years, is it a "health guardian" or a "leek harvester"?
1. The "antidote" to the new crown? Practical utility is controversial
According to public information, Dettol is a global consumer goods brand focusing on the field of disinfection and sterilization, belonging to Reckitt Benckiser Group, which entered the Chinese market in 1993, and its existing products cover household disinfection and personal hygiene, including disinfectant, clothing disinfectant, hand sanitizer and other products.
When the new crown epidemic hit in 2020, in addition to masks, sanitizing supplies represented by disinfectants were also snapped up. According to the original official sanitize guidelines, alcohol, high-concentration liquor and chlorine-based disinfectants are effective in inactivating the virus, but there is no clear explanation for phenolic disinfectants such as Dettol.
However, because the bottle of Dettol is marked with the words "human coronavirus", the Internet once believed that Dettol can effectively kill the new coronavirus. It was also at this time that some people on the Internet began to propose the purchase of Dettol in large quantities, and even regarded Dettol as an "antidote" to the new coronavirus.
But in reality, it was just a misunderstanding caused by a bias in terminology. According to media reports, the term "coronavirus" in Dettol's instructions is actually a general term for a wide range of respiratory viruses, including the common cold and SARS virus, and does not refer to the term "coronavirus" used in media reports on the novel coronavirus.
Dettol also clarified that its related products can effectively sterilize, keep hands clean, and reduce the possibility of infection, but because it cannot be tested, it is not certain that Dettol is effective against the new coronavirus, and the "coronavirus" in the context of its product instructions mostly refers to viruses that cause common cold symptoms.
However, Dettol officials issued a statement shortly after, pointing out that the "Dettol is ineffective against the new coronavirus" circulating on the Internet is false information, and saying that the UTD literature cited in the relevant content draws on the evaluation method of fungicides and is not an internationally recognized test method for virus inactivation.
This makes people wonder whether Dettol disinfectant can sanitize the new coronavirus. In this regard, Dettol still adopted the same way as the first time to refute the rumors - because the new coronavirus is the latest coronavirus, no disinfection product companies have obtained the virus strain, and it is impossible to conduct actual testing.
As for the debate about whether Dettol can kill the new coronavirus, the outside world has its own opinions. Some professors and doctors at home and abroad believe that the active ingredient of Dettol is p-chloro-m-xylphenol (PCMX), which can block bacteria on the surface of objects, but the new coronavirus can also be transmitted through respiratory droplets and conjunctiva, and surface disinfection is not enough to cure the disease.
Second, the inactivation rate is extremely high, what is it to know without saying anything?
On May 24, 2020, Dettol cited an article in an extranet magazine, saying that it had found that ethanol, p-chloro-m-xylenol (PCMX), salicylic acid, etc. could effectively inactivate SARS-CoV-2 (novel coronavirus) through testing, and that the virus's ability to infect within 1 to 5 minutes of exposure to the above substances was greatly reduced.
Interestingly, Dettol did not make any publicity about its coronavirus sanitizing effect in the years that followed. According to the "Tips for Epidemic Prevention and Control" released by the brand's official account in 2022, it recommended Dettol disinfectant in the "Hygienic Dead Corner, Key Disinfection" section, and claimed that the product can "effectively sterilize 99.999%".
In the note, Dettol explained that its data came from a qualified third-party testing agency, and it could effectively kill 99.999% of E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa under test conditions, and said that the test data was for reference only, and the effect varied from person to person, without mentioning coronavirus-related.
When introducing the product to the author, the customer service of Dettol's Taobao official flagship store only said that Dettol disinfectant can effectively kill 99.999% of bacteria and fungi, and can inactivate 99.99% of viruses such as H3N2 influenza virus, human coronavirus 229E, herpes simplex virus, and human respiratory syncytial virus.
Under the author's questioning, Dettol customer service revealed; Reckitt Benckiser Group has conducted laboratory tests on Dettol disinfectant (classic pine) and proved that the product can effectively inactivate the new coronavirus under laboratory conditions with a minimum use time of 3 minutes and a minimum action concentration of 0.09% w/w, and the inactivation rate of the new coronavirus is 99.999%.
At first, he was eager to deny that "Dettol is ineffective against the new coronavirus", but after the test results came out, he kept silent about the 99.999% inactivation rate of the new coronavirus, which is obviously unreasonable. Regarding the author's question of "why not display it on the product promotion page", Dettol's customer service only gave a positive answer on the grounds of "limited publicity".
The considerations behind Dettol's promotional language, as well as its ability to sanitize the new coronavirus in real life, may only be known to the brand itself. But what is certain is that relying on the popularity of the discussion on the feasibility of sanitizing the new crown, Dettol has earned enough consumer attention.
Third, the safety is doubtful, and counterfeit and shoddy products are rampant
In the process of purchasing disinfectants, in addition to the basic requirements of sterilization efficiency, consumers also attach great importance to the safety performance of the product. The main ingredient of Dettol disinfectant, p-chloro-m-xylenol (PCMX), has actually been a safety controversy.
It is reported that p-chloro-m-xylenol generally has moderate to low toxicity, low toxicity through respiratory ingestion, in addition to causing slight skin irritation, if ingested by mistake, it may lead to esophageal and gastrointestinal mucosal cell necrosis, and then esophageal burns, toxic enteritis and other diseases.
Although Dettol reminds in the product details page of the disinfectant that due to the habit of licking pets, there may be a risk of accidental ingestion, so it is not recommended to use it directly; However, the official website repeatedly emphasizes that the product is "safe and harmless for direct skin application", and claims that it "can also be easily used when taking on the responsibility of environmental sterilization".
It is important to know that p-chloro-m-xylphenol is moderately toxic to freshwater invertebrates and highly toxic to fish. As early as 2021, some netizens publicly condemned Dettol's active ingredient (PCMX) as difficult to degrade and is a harmful substance banned in the United States.
According to the netizen, Dettol not only continued to openly use PCMX, but even repeatedly increased prices from 6.6 yuan/liter in 2018 to 20 yuan/liter when the demand for the epidemic was strong. According to the current price of 3.6L at 169.8 yuan, the price of Dettol disinfectant has soared to 47.2 yuan per liter.
Well-known brands, high prices, and low production costs also make Dettol a tool for unscrupulous traders to make profits. In 2018, the Shenzhen Baolong Market Supervision and Management Institute smashed a large-scale counterfeit and shoddy daily chemical production den, and the counterfeit products included the "Dettol" brand.
On social platforms, some consumers also shared their experiences of buying counterfeit Dettol. According to users, in most cases, when they see the difference in the outer packaging of the product, they will default to the different batches of the product; If abnormalities are found in the process of use, many merchants will refuse to refund on the grounds that "the product has been used", and counterfeit goods are rampant, making it difficult to protect rights.
In addition, there are not a few voices accusing the Dettol brand of false advertising. A user reported on the Black Cat platform that Dettol floor liquid claimed to have been professionally tested and could be used for a floor scrubber, but in the actual use process, it caused the floor scrubber motor to burn, and the official customer service refused to provide relevant test reports afterwards.
In addition, the Dettol brand also had problems such as non-immersion washing machine cleaners not being able to clean smoothly according to the process, and staining the seat cushion due to disinfectant spray applied to the toilet seat. Up to now, there have been a total of 248 complaints related to the keyword "Dettol", most of which are related to the platform's sale of counterfeits, after-sales dereliction of duty, and false publicity.
As far as the current product reputation is concerned, Dettol needs more efforts to establish its position as a "disinfection and sterilization expert".