Stars not to blame for bad ads: researcher
Mainland regulators trying to curb celebrity endorsements of suspect products should target the heart of the system instead of the famous faces, a researcher said yesterday.
In an open letter on Tuesday, the Beijing Consumers' Association urged mainland celebrities to drop endorsements of products or services that were promoted with overblown or false claims.
Association secretary-general Zhang Ming said the consumer rights organisation had received many complaints from consumers in recent years about celebrity-endorsed products.
'Many said they bought the products .... because they worshipped and trusted their idols, only to find the products' [effectiveness] was far from what had been publicised,' Mr Zhang told Xinhua.
This is the third consecutive year that the association has targeted the faces used in false advertising and the organisation said customers were disappointed that previous calls had fallen on deaf ears.
But Chen Gang , dean of Peking University's advertising department, said the association should target the systematic support of false advertising, not the people in front of the camera.
'The phenomenon is so ingrained despite repeated bans because of complex causes ... in the health care and media management systems,' Professor Chen said.
Many of the most problematic advertisements tout the curative effects of health food products or tonics, claims that are banned under advertising regulations.
But these advertisements could not get a run or be broadcast without certificates from relevant governmental departments, according to Professor Chen.
'The problem cannot be eradicated simply by casting stones at the advertisers,' he said.
He said misleading advertisements relying heavily on stars were most prevalent in newspapers and on radio - where competition was intense - and during 'junk time' on television, when broadcasters struggled to fill advertising time.
Mainland media revealed yesterday that a consumer in Hainan had filed a complaint against the maker of a beauty face mask endorsed by pop star Zhou Yanhong .
Zhou claimed in a TV advertisement that the mask was able to 'convey procreative, hydrolytic and recycling biographic signals' and 'make you look 10 years younger after one year's usage'.
