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Celebrities find themselves in the spotlight over misleading adverts
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Ten television advertisements were highlighted by the State Administration of Industry and Commerce yesterday as breaching new rules involving celebrities.
The celebrities, who included Jung Da-yeon, a famous diet and fitness guru from South Korea, will face fines if they “prove to be or should be aware” of misleading content of the advertisements, according to the new Advertising Law of China that came into effect at the beginning of the month.
The 10 advertisements will be taken off air, but the authorities haven’t yet said what will happen to the celebrities involved.
Advertisements touting jewelry, antiques and health and diet products topped the administration’s list, one of which was a “Diet Dinner” said to be endorsed by Jung.
The advertisement for the product said that by following its diet a person could lose 5 kilograms after a week, and a large, but unspecified, amount of fat after a month. It also said that the dieter would not suffer a relapse for the rest of his or her life.
“This was a clear violation of the Advertising Law because it failed to cite authentic and precise statistics or some results from surveys, nor did it mention where its data came from,” the administration said.
Similar breaches of the advertising law were found in an advertisement for the “Miss Chen Fat-reducing Diet Soup” which claimed that even those who weighed over 100 kilograms could have a “standard good figure” after three months by drinking it, and in an advertisement for “A Bowl of Fat-reducing Diet Soup.”
Hou Yaohua and Li Jindou, two well-known stand-up comedians in China, were also involved in advertisements highlighted by the administration.
Hou was the spokesman in a TV spot for “Ten Legendary Famous Chinese Paintings” which was produced by a company in Hebei Province and aired in a few provinces. However, an investigation from the administration showed that the paintings were ordinary works produced in a factory in Zhejiang Province.
“This was clearly fake and misleading advertising which took advantage of the reputation of the artists,” the authorities said.
Li spoke in a TV advertisement for beaded bracelets which claimed to be the most valuable in the Chinese market.
“Whereas its wording is inappropriate according to the law, the advertisement is problematic also due to a few other false elements such as faking the audience calling in to make purchases,” the administration said.
The new law makes clear that celebrities have a responsibility for the content of the advertisements in which they appear.
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