'Ghost ads' in Beijing subway

The company responsible for placing ads in Beijing subway stations has admitted filling unsold billboards with ads for products that do not exist, the Beijing News reported.

"The ad called 'Hallucination' seemed like an ad for a beverage or for bedding," said a passenger surnamed Huang, adding that she had often unsuccessfully searched online for the shops being advertised.

Most of the "ghost ads" were placed in stations for Lines 5 and 10. According to an anonymous staffer at the ad company, whenever a billboard space went unsold for a month, they resorted to filling the empty space with ads produced in-house. A lawyer said that because this was only a general marketing strategy to attract consumer attention, the ad company is not legally liable for fraud.