Jin Bingyi Lawyer Commentary

Advertising violations are actually already common nowadays. For example, according to China's Interim Provisions on Food Advertising Publication, food advertisements shall not indicate or imply that they can replace breast milk, nor shall they use images of nursing women or infants. However, in many infant formula advertisements, we can frequently see violations.

　　Faced with numerous illegal advertisements, the reasons are: first, insufficient supervision; second, unclear responsibilities of relevant accountable persons; third, difficulty in implementing punishment measures.

The author believes that to regulate the advertising market, first, supervision must be strengthened. When industrial and commercial authorities are unable to achieve comprehensive supervision, can consumer protection committees be entrusted to undertake partial supervision and reporting responsibilities to assist industrial and commercial authorities in supervision; second, for relevant accountable persons in illegal advertisements, corresponding legal responsibilities should be assumed according to their fault. For example, for celebrities who knew or should have known about false propaganda but still endorsed advertisements, they should bear corresponding legal responsibilities, and even bear joint liability together with advertisers and publishers; third, for punishments of illegal advertisements, strict legal punishment must be enforced, truly achieving that violations will be corrected and law enforcement must be strict.