Regulating Political Symbols: China's Advertising Law and Politicized Advertising

Xin Zhao and Jeff Wang

Advertising regulation in China contains political and ideological nuances. Despite evolution of its advertising law and years of practice dealing with various codes, advertisers still find it daunting to decipher the regulations after years of practice.

Regulating Political Symbols: China’s Advertising Law and Politicized Advertising

Xin Zhao

University of Hawaii

Jeff Wang

City University of Hong Kong

INTRODUCTION

Total advertising expenditure in China reached $120 billion in 2009 (Ng, 2010), making it the fourth largest market in the world. And that figure still is growing, with cautious predictions that it will bypass the United States to become the largest advertising market by the mid-twenty-first century.

Almost as impressive as the increase in advertising expenditures is the growth in the number of cases of banned advertisements due to political and ideological incorrectness in recent...

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