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Jackie Chan's road safety TV ads vanish

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Why you can trust SCMP

A government television announcement featuring Jackie Chan promoting road safety has vanished from the small screen - but no one is blaming its disappearance officially on the row over Chan saying Chinese people need control and too much freedom leads to chaos.

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Stations confirmed that the segment had not been slotted into last week's schedule of announcements in the public interest.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Tourism Board said the number of complaints about Chan's role as the city's tourism ambassador - which began after his remarks at a conference on Hainan Island last weekend - had risen to 230.

ATV said the government's Information Services Department was responsible for slotting in the announcements every week, and none of Chan's road safety segments were scheduled last week. Scheduling had to coincide with the publicity focus of campaigns of various bureaus or departments, it said.

The government did not respond when asked if Chan's announcement would remain permanently unused or whether it would invite Chan to endorse any other campaigns.

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The star's popularity has plunged as many Hongkongers continued to express their discontent about his remarks. One discussion group on the Facebook network, called '100,000 for Sending Jackie Chan to North Korea!', exceeded its target number of 100,000 members in less than a week. Others have created videos on YouTube mocking Chan's comments.

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