China bans “disgusting” ads

According to the BBC:

China’s television stations have been told they can no longer show commercials for feminine hygiene products, haemorrhoid ointments and other such items during mealtimes.

Actually, I am kind of ambivalent on this. I’d rather not watch these ads as I eat (or anytime, actually). But who decides what’s disgusting or not?

The Discussion: 2 Comments

Sounds Icky

November 28, 2004 @ 6:33 pm | Comment

Why is any of this a surprise? I’ve lived and worked all over Asia and the Chinese govt. is King Dickhead, compared to the others. I worked on many multimillion dollar deals where the Chinese “joint ventures” screwed over the investors; these were not small companies, but major corporations like San Miguel and Fosters. When is everyone going to figure out: the rules are, there are no rules. The Nike (LeBron James) advert climbdown was inevitable– mainly because the Chinese get upset about all the wrong things– but also because they cast it stupidly. I worked in Asian advertising for years and frankly, the moment they tried to run an ad with Chinese overtones, without a Chinese hero (say, Yao Ming), IN CHINA, they might as well have spent the millions of adspend dollars on coke and hookers. FYI– I am half Chinese and speak fluent Mandarin, in case anyone thinks I am a crazed white supremacist or something…

December 10, 2004 @ 11:09 am | Comment

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