I found this today on styleite.com which is slightly odd! Of the government, not the website, but here is the post from styleite.com - I am not taking credit for this! But I think it's interesting.....It was posted today by Justin Fenner.NEW CHINESE BILLBOARD RULES
Tacky advertisers beware: If you want to put up a billboard in Beijing, you’re not allowed to make it fancy. China’s capital city has banned billboards that use certain luxurious-sounding words to glorify high-end living and “the worship of foreign-made products.”
The Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce wrote the new rules, which attack ads that “promote hedonism.” The Chinese government will take extra care to rid the city of advertisements that use words like “supreme,” “royal,” “luxury” or “high class.” But the rules weren’t written because real luxury products don’t need those words to express the fact that they’re making expensive stuff. The government wants to make it clear that it’s addressing the widening gap between China’s wealthy and not-so-wealthy. WWD explains:
As the top echelons of society have gotten exponentially wealthier in recent years, wages have remained stagnant for millions of blue-collar workers, despite record-paced inflation. Since the country’s leadership is ever-vigilant about the potential for social unrest — especially with reports that there have been some attempts in certain cities in China to mimic the demonstrations that have gone on in the Middle East — it’s now turning its attention to that wealth gap.
Luxury product advertisers in China told WWD off the record that they weren’t worried about the new regulations because they mostly use print advertising to get the word out about new products. We’re sure it’s not lost on the National People’s Congress that selling fewer Birkins won’t turn the middle classes’ luck around, especially considering that China is now the world’s second-highest consumer of luxury goods (only Japan buys more expensive product than China).
There’s also the troubling matter of “the worship of foreign-made products.” China’s manufacturing strength is nothing to sneeze at, but it’s not known for churning out expensive leather goods the way France and Italy are. And with its growing wealthy classes obsessed on the luxury goods coming from those countries and from the United States, it’s going to take a lot more than a few censored billboards to make people stop spending big money.
But maybe actual spending isn’t the problem. Maybe it’s just the perception they’re trying to get rid of.
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