Luxury ad rules misunderstood?
- Source: Global Times
- [09:14 March 30 2011]
- Comments
Three people pass a billboard advertising high-end real estate near Xiaoyun Bridge in Chaoyang district Tuesday. Authorities are preparing to inspect outdoor advertisements for violations such as promoting hedonism. Photo: Guo Yingguang/GT
By Li Yanhui
Beijing authorities issued a response to media reports about the banning of outdoor luxury advertisements Tuesday.
"Because of incorrect translations, some reports were groundless and brought us many calls from concerned people," spokesman Wu Song with the Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce told the Global Times Tuesday.
The administration published a notice on its official website, hd315.gov.cn, on March 21, that detailed how outdoor advertisements must meet with the city's standards.
Advertisers were given until April 15 to ensure their ads do not promote "unhealthy cultural and political trends," violate "spiritual civilization construction" standards (which can loosely be interpreted as social values) or advocate or glorify "hedonism, feudal emperors, heavenly imperial nobility, the worship of foreign things and vulgar words."
"Newly forbidden words include 'supreme,' 'royal,' 'luxury' or 'high class,' which are widely used in Chinese promotions for houses, vehicles and wines," the AFP reported on March 20.
However, those specific words do not appear in the recent notice, and actually were first banned starting May 9, 2007, as part of a clean-up campaign before the Beijing Olympics, according to a May 27, 2007, China Youth Daily article.
The Telegraph reported on March 22 that the most recent notice was issued "over concerns that the endless advertisements are reminding people of the wealth gap."
"We never meant to target luxury goods or a certain industry. This is just a routine check of outdoor advertisements," Wu said. He also pointed out the "income gap" postulation was groundless.
A manager surnamed Qin with the the Beijing Duosen advertising company told the Legal Mirror that he received 10 calls from clients concerned about the "ban on luxury and foreign products."
Wu explained that the words banned by the notice were just reference points for outdoor adertisers.
For example, the "worship of foreign things" criterion means advertisers cannot purposefully put a foreign product next to a domestic one to boast about the foreign product's superiority, Wu said.
Wu further explained that not promoting "unhealthy cultural and political trends" or endangering "spiritual civilization construction" are existing standards for the ad industry.
