Can the strictest new law curb advertising chaos？

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　　On April 24th, the 14th meeting of the 12th the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) adopted the revised draft of the Advertising Law. The new law clarified the specific situation of false advertisements, intensified the crackdown, and set clear norms for Internet advertisements. Can this law, which was promulgated and implemented for the first time in 20 years, control all kinds of advertising chaos and adapt to the rapid development of advertising platforms? The public is full of expectations.

　　Relying on the economic prosperity, the advertising industry has developed strongly, affecting people’s choices in life, ranging from buying a house, buying a car and traveling abroad to clothes, shoes, socks and napkins.

　　However, ubiquitous and pervasive advertisements provide convenience and also bring troubles. False advertisements, spam messages and all kinds of chaos make people realize the urgency and importance of regulating the advertising market.

　　Irresistible illegal advertisements

　　"It only takes one day, and the teeth are really white!" This is probably one of the most expensive advertising words in history-because of false propaganda, Guangzhou Procter & Gamble Co., Ltd., the advertising subject, was fined 6.03 million yuan by Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Bureau, which is the biggest fine for false and illegal advertisements in China at present.

　　These eye-catching advertisements frequently appear on TV programs, outdoor advertisements and street flyers. Although the current advertising law has clearly stipulated that "advertisements shall not contain false contents and shall not deceive and mislead consumers", many businesses and media prefer to take risks for the sake of high profits.

　　The chaos in the advertising circle is far more than a kind of false advertisement. Some TV stations publish advertisements for health care products in the name of health programs. Some websites pop up several small windows as soon as they are opened, covering the whole screen; Some advertising companies rely on spam messages and spam to "sow widely and reap sparingly"; Others stand on the main road and make small advertisements …

　　Why are illegal advertisements repeatedly banned? This is related to the fact that the current advertising law is too principled and not binding. Zhang Mao, director of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, said that in recent years, with the rapid development of China’s advertising industry and the wide application of the Internet, the media and forms of advertising have changed greatly. Compared with this, the advertising law promulgated and implemented in 1995 still has some problems, such as the incomplete content of advertising general rules, unclear advertising activity norms, unclear standards for identifying false advertisements, and weak operability of legal responsibilities, which makes it difficult to effectively curb advertising violations.

　　In addition, the low illegal cost is also an important reason for enterprises to violate the law frequently. Take "the most expensive advertising words in history" as an example. Although 6.03 million yuan is already the biggest ticket issued by the administrative department, the annual sales of only one brand under P&G’s name exceeds 6 billion yuan, and the "sky-high ticket" is really insignificant.

　　"In the 20 years since the implementation of the advertising law, we have accumulated some practical experience and formulated some practical normative measures. It is now necessary to make a summary, raise the norms into laws, and make targeted norms for new situations and new problems. " Liu Shuangzhou, deputy dean of the School of Law of the Central University of Finance and Economics, said.

　　Crack down on false advertisements in all directions

　　It was submitted for deliberation for the first time in August 2014, submitted for deliberation for the second time in December, and passed for the third time in April 2015. In less than one year, the revision of the advertising law quickly responded to the call of all sectors of society to severely crack down on advertising chaos according to law, and condensed the public’s consensus on increasing advertising supervision.

　　It is an urgent task for the new advertising law to curb and crack down on false advertisements. In this regard, the new law first clarifies the definition of false advertisements, and stipulates that advertisements will be regarded as false advertisements in five situations, such as goods or services do not exist, information such as product performance is inconsistent with the actual situation, fictitious proof materials are used, the effect of goods is fictitious, and consumers are deceived and misled by false content.

　　At the same time, the new law also increases the legal responsibility for publishing false advertisements, and stipulates that the administrative department for industry and commerce has the right to impose a fine of 3-5 times the advertising cost on advertisers. If the advertising cost cannot be calculated or is obviously low, a fine of 200,000-1 million yuan can be imposed. In addition, the new law also stipulates that those who violate the law for three times in two years will be fined 5-10 times the advertising cost, or 1-2 million yuan, and their business licenses can be revoked. This is obviously stricter than the current advertising law, which stipulates that the advertiser shall bear civil liability for publishing false advertisements according to law.

　　Should celebrities bear joint and several liability for endorsing false advertisements? There have been different debates in the society: some people think that stars only assume the role of "salesmen", do not understand the process of product production, and ask them to take responsibility for product quality, which is suspected of exceeding their authority; However, some people think that stars use the public’s trust to make them choose problematic goods and services, and producers, operators and spokespersons jointly commit infringement and should bear joint and several liability.

　　In this regard, the new advertising law clarifies the celebrity endorsement from the standpoint of safeguarding consumers’ rights and interests, stipulating that advertising spokespersons shall not recommend or prove their unused goods or services, and advertising spokespersons of false advertisements shall not speak for advertisements again within three years.

　　"False advertisements are very harmful to the society. The new advertising law clearly defines false advertisements, greatly strengthens legal responsibilities, enhances operability, and is conducive to further strengthening the governance of false advertisements." Yang Wu, deputy to the National People’s Congress and president of the All-China Patent Agents Association, said.

　　Set rules for internet advertising

　　"Everyone has a free advertising space." In April this year, an APP that made money by reading and sharing advertisers’ marketing articles was widely circulated among friends. "In 2014, the overall online advertising market in China exceeded 150 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 40%, of which mobile Internet advertising grew strongly." With the rapid development of Internet technology, the media advertising industry is accelerating the transformation and reform: the advertising revenue of TV media is basically flat, while the print media continues to decline, while the advertising of Internet and mobile Internet is growing at an average annual rate of over 30%.

　　The current advertising law obviously did not foresee such a rapid development trend of internet advertising, and the word "Internet" could not even be found in the law. The lack of rule of law led to the rapid decline of Internet advertising from the golden age. The most obvious features are spam messages and spam. Selling cars at low prices, promoting sales in shopping malls, and issuing invoices, all kinds of junk messages and emails that have nothing to do with themselves but have to be read have seriously affected people’s normal lives. Statistics show that in 2014, the number of spam messages in China reached 45.4 billion, of which advertising promotion accounted for 65%.

　　Obviously, the new advertising law cannot ignore this important change. There are special provisions in the new law that the provisions of this law shall apply to the use of the Internet for advertising activities. The use of the Internet to publish and send advertisements shall not affect the normal use of the network by users. At the same time, in response to spam and spam messages, the new law stipulates that no unit or individual may send advertisements by electronic information without consent. If an advertisement is sent by electronic message, the true identity and contact information of the sender must also be clearly stated, and the way to refuse to accept it should be provided. If telecom operators and Internet information service providers fail to stop advertisements knowing that they are illegal, the industrial and commercial departments will confiscate their illegal income, and if the circumstances are serious, they will stop related businesses according to law.

　　"The new advertising law has solved some problems existing in the current advertising law, solved some advertising chaos that has been strongly reflected by the public, and is more perfect, sound and reasonable at the institutional level. At the same time, it has standardized law enforcement behavior and is conducive to promoting administration according to law." Zhao Xudong, deputy dean of the School of Civil and Commercial Economic Law of China University of Political Science and Law, expressed the hope that the new advertising law can better regulate advertising activities, more effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of the public and consumers, and promote the healthy development of the advertising industry. This is also the greatest expectation of the public for the new law. (Peng Bo)