In a continuous effort to bring society in line with ‘fundamental communist ideals,’ China has barred all celebrities from promoting a variety of goods and banned anybody with ‘lapsed morality’ from supporting anything. The rules, which state authorities unveiled this week, prohibit Chinese celebrities from publicly promoting or advertising health, education, and financial products, including e-cigarettes and infant formula. Celebrities in China have been instructed to use their endorsements in advertising to further the nation’s communist basic principles. According to new laws released by the Chinese government, advertising operations should ‘conform to societal norms and traditional qualities’.
Companies in China are not allowed to hire celebrities who have been judged to have ‘lapsed morals’ or to have committed crimes including tax evasion, intoxication, drug addiction, or fraud. Additionally, they are prohibited from utilising pictures of Communist Party officials, revolutionary figures, or heroes in their advertising. The media are allegedly enabling ‘illegal and immoral celebrity’ to engage in endorsements for commercials, according to China’s main advertising agency. China’s government has increased control over the nation’s entertainment sector as a result of President Xi Jinping’s more authoritarian style of governing. The goal was to alter the face of Chinese popular culture.
Authorities instructed broadcasters not to advertise what it sarcastically described to as ‘sissy’ guys in September 2021, and several reality TV talent shows were outlawed. In an effort to control the ‘chaos’ and monetization of internet fandom, a two-month regulatory operation also outlawed ranking celebrities and cultural items. A Beijing entertainment symposium with the subject ‘Love the party, love the nation, champion morality and art’ was instructed the business must act morally in both public and private during the same month. The standards, according to Zhang Guohua, the head of China’s advertising organisation, would help the sector become ‘more standardised and healthier’.
However, everyone will be more careful, and the artists will be more responsible and self-disciplined. This does not imply that celebrity endorsements will be restricted. Celebrity endorsements will still take place routinely within the parameters of compliance and legality as long as the law is followed, thus the impact is favourable, Zhang told local media. He advised people who had ‘enjoyed the perks of being a public figure’ to get used to having their behaviours constrained due to their impact as role models. ‘You have such a standing and influence in the sector, so use caution in both your words and actions’, Zhang said.
Actor Zheng Shuang was fined roughly 300 million RMB ($46 million) and prohibited from appearing on entertainment programmes in 2021 for tax evasion. The stand-up comedian Li Dan was penalised $134,000 last year for a women’s underwear advertisement that was deemed offensive to women. Celebrities must also thoroughly comprehend and have utilised the product they are advertising according to the new rules.
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