Live News Updates: Chinese regulators crack down on celebrities endorsing popular products. | So Good News

tobacco products; out-of-school tuitions; formula foods; Chinese authorities have banned celebrities from endorsing many products, including healthcare and medical equipment.

The new rules, released Monday afternoon by the state governing body for marketing regulations and six other groups, would limit celebrity endorsements that have been plagued by celebrity scandals in recent years.

The new rules apply to social media; television commercials; Artists are prohibited from endorsing products through live broadcasts or interviews.

“Celebrities should consciously apply basic socialist values ​​in their advertising endorsement activities,” the rules state. “Activities should conform to social ethics and traditional virtues.

The rules include internet influencers in the definition of celebrities, reflecting the stronger role that streamers and online personalities play in promoting products.

They also prohibit promoting “distorted beauty” and using images or likenesses of party and state leaders or revolutionary heroes.

Any product endorsed by celebrities must first be thoroughly tested by them and the test results recorded in advance, the new rules state.

Companies should consciously resist the choice of illegal and corrupt celebrities as advertising spokespersons, they said.

The celebrity endorsement industry is plagued by a series of scandals. Most recently, live broadcaster Li Jiaqi disappeared from public view for three months after displaying a tank-shaped cake on June 3, which some analysts interpreted as the anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre. The next day.

“If a business knows or should know that a celebrity has made false political comments or other comments that violate core socialist values; It must be determined that the relevant advertisements hinder social stability and social security,” the new regulation said. State.