Hearing her eight-year-old daughter's declaration: "I will never
eat cakes because boys don't like fat girls," Shang Xiuyun turned
around and saw her daughter watching a TV ad for underwear
featuring a half-naked, slim girl flirting with a man.
"I think our country should set up rating system for sexually
suggestive TV ads," said Shang, who is also a deputy of the Beijing
Municipal People's Congress, the local legislature.
After they have monitored commercials for three months, Shang
and fellow legislator Tang Xilan are going to advise the government
regarding both morality ratings and watershed times for ads deemed
improper for minors.
Shang called on the government to create strict regulations to
eradicate sexually suggestive commercials, at least during the
summer and winter holiday periods.
The present law on advertising was implemented 12 years ago. It
vaguely prohibits "content that is obscene, superstitious,
terrifying, violent and evil; content that is discriminative
against nationalities, races, religions and sex".? But the law
contains no details on how such advertising should be judged.
"Specific items should be added to the law to prohibit sexually
suggestive TV ads," declared Shang.
More than one million Beijing middle and primary school children
started their summer holidays last week. Many spent a lot of time
watching television, a pastime many parents are beginning to
question.
Scantily clad young women, with protruding breasts and
flirtatious behavior signal commercials for lingerie, breast
enhancement and cosmetic products. Many of these ads are packed
into primetime programming.
"Most of them misinform children about sex," Shang stated.
More than half of China's primary and middle school students
spend over a 100 minutes watching television every day.
Shang recalled her own daughter's comment after a cosmetic ad
that depicted a young couple behaving frostily to each other before
the woman used a brand-name skin care product that cleared up her
facial freckles: "Mom, daddy will dislike you because you have
freckles on your face."
Shang said, "You can't escape vulgar ads by changing channels
because almost every channel has such ads at primetime."
Zong Chunshan, Director of the Beijing Adolescent Psychology
Consulting Center, said sexually suggestive ads give priority to
sexual attraction and could influence children.
"Youngsters are sensitive to sex-related information and they
may believe behavior on the screen is considered normal. They will
have trouble controlling their own behavior," noted Zong.
An official with the State Industry and Commerce Administration
remarked anonymously that the administration was considering
amending advertising laws in order to provide protection for
minors.
?
(Xinhua News Agency July 20, 2007)