Chinese officials launch 'green' ad to fight back against swimming challenge

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A screen grab of the advertisement. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Published: 11:05am, 21 Feb 2013Updated: 12:57pm, 21 Feb 2013

Haunted by media attention after local officials were challenged to swim in polluted rivers, Wenzhou authorities fought back with a 140,000 yuan advertisement campaign boasting of their environmental protection record, Beijing Times reported on Thursday.

A polluted river in Wenzhou previously exposed by an online user. Photo: SCMP Pictures

The city’s Wenzhou Evening News on Tuesday published a full-page coloured advertisement titled "Review of Wenzhou Environmental Bureau’s Achievement in 2012". The advertisement cost about 140,000 yuan (HK$173,000) according to the paper’s 2012 price list, the Beijing Times said.

The advertisement said the city government had boosted efforts on cleaning up pollution and ecological restoration, and had continually worked to improve water quality in Wenzhou, in eastern China's Zhejiang province.

It also said that the city had been named a "national role model" in environmental protection and that it would strive to retake that crown in 2014.

"We strive to meet people's goals, we aim to address people's concerns, we work together to make it happen," reads a slogan in the ad.

The ad came after local residents of towns in Wenzhou challenged environmental protection officials to swim in polluted rivers for huge cash rewards, highlighting public concern over the city’s worsening environment plight.