(ECNS) - China's new advertising law that includes a ban on children as spokespersons will become effective starting September 1, though legal experts think the new regulation ambiguous, West China Metropolis Daily reports.
The new regulation, revised for the first time since its release in 1994, made amendments over a broad range of issues, including for products like medicine and tobacco. For example, celebrities need to test out the products they represent, before endorsing their sale.
In terms of advertising spokesperson, a person or organization using its name or image to endorse a product, the new law bans the use of children under the age of ten as representatives, subject to heavy fines.
Currently, child stars, especially of celebrity parents, are in hot demand since China's youth product market is expanding. Some can earn as much as middling actors or actresses do, the newspaper states.
Lawmakers say the ban is to protect the physical and mental health of the under aged as they lack the capability to make independent decisions.
But some legal experts say the stipulation is unclear as advertisers may still invite a minor to perform in an advertisement although they don't take the position of a spokesperson. The law also fails to indicate if all children under ten or just child stars in general are barred from being advertising representatives.
