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Embedded ads to be regulated

By Zheng Jinran (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-08-18 17:31

The State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) announced on Tuesday that embedded advertising in TV programs is likely to be regulated in Advertisements Law in China, the Beijing News reported.

Zhao Linzhong, a deputy of the National People's Congress, said embedded ads annoyed audience, violated their interests and proposed a bill to regulate the increasingly popular phenomenon. The SAIC statement is the answer to that bill. 

In the process of amending Advertisements Law, a proposal aimed at regulating embedded advertising will be handed to the legislative body. SAIC also said that concerned departments and TV stations should practice strict controls in the programming and broadcasting sessions.

Advertisements implanted in TV series or other programs are a new type of products promotion that go hand in hand with economic and cultural development. In the US and Japan, regulations have been adopted in recent years banning implanted advertisements that affect the content of TV programs and in news broadcasts.