Beijing, China
As companies search for new methods of marketing their products, advertisements have begun to push the envelope of acceptability, and legality.
The State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television has recently banned over 3,000 television ads claiming that they were “illegal” Some of these ads were banned because of “vulgar” or “inappropriate” content; however, a large majority of the banned commercials were found to be making exaggerated, or false claims about their products.
According to a study conducted by major watchdog organization, The Professional Committee of Media Shopping, most commercials for health foods and medicines broadcast on local television stations across China violated advertising laws and regulations from the State Food and Drug Administration.
As these “phony” commercials begin to be exposed, many celebrities who were featured endorsing the “phony” product are also coming under fire. Such celebrities include popular entertainment show host Wang Yang and Zhou Yanhong, a female singer who paired up in a medicine commercial that overplayed the product’s anti-aging properties with unfounded claims that it could make consumers look “10 years younger.
In addition to these celebrity endorsements, many commercials now feature fake experts and fake testimonials from “consumers” of the products.
Scott Garner, Director of LEHMAN, LEE & XU Shanghai office said that “The governments crackdown on these illegal commercials shows both China’s efforts to ensure only quality products reach the market, and its tightening control of the content of media and advertising. We as a firm look forward to assisting our clients navigate the local laws and regulations in their attempts to reach the Chinese market.”
LEHMAN, LEE & XU advertising law specialists offer complete legal service to a broad spectrum of advertising clients on a wide diversity of matters. We have advised some of the biggest players in the industry in some of the advertising industry’s most significant and intricate matters. The consequential breadth of expertise allows us to handle all aspects of any advertising law matter and gives our clients an upper hand in representation on matters falling outside the sphere of more traditional advertising law firms.
Lehman, Lee & Xu is a prominent Chinese corporate law firm and trademark and patent agency with offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Macau, and Mongolia. The firm is recognized as a leading expert in corporate law and an active member of the Shanghai community.
To learn more about us, please visit our website at www.lehmanlaw.com.