The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

Regulation China Ad

China cracks down on brands and products claiming they are the best

Author

By John McCarthy, Opinion Editor

September 8, 2015 | 2 min read

The Chinese government has drastically altered its advertising guidelines effectively restricting brands and companies from using superlatives in their marketing.

After the first change to the guidelines in two decades, brands risk legal action and fines for describing their products as ‘supreme’, ‘best’, ‘highest’ or ‘national level’ - a Chinese expression.

As a result of the changes implemented by the government, asterisks replace the aforementioned superlatives in product descriptions online. Although the terms were previously banned, their use is now enforced with fines as high as 200,000 yuan ($31,466) and 1 million yuan ($157,331), according to the Wall Street Journal.

Brands across China have often utilised the terms in their branding without substantiation. The shake-up looks to fundamentally alter the country’s advertising industry.

E-commerce sites JD.com and Taobao reportedly do not show products for the search terms, immediately enacting the regulation.

Regulation China Ad

More from Regulation

View all

Trending

Industry insights

View all
Add your own content +