Concerns About Advertising Practices in a Developing Country: An Examination of China's New Advertising Regulations

Abstract

This article examines China's 1993 Interim Regulations on the Advertising Agency System and Interim Advertising Censorship Standards as reflections of a developing country's concerns over advertising practices. Four issues facing a developing country such as China are identified: (1) The influence of foreign advertising practices on the domestic advertising industry; (2) the urge to speed up the learning process of advertising skills and know-how; (3) the threat of advertising to the indigenous culture; and (4) the government's authoritarian role in maintaining order. The new regulations are conceived as the Chinese government's remedies to these issues. The article concludes with a discussion on the enforcement problems and consequences of the regulations on China's advertising industry.