China’s state-run People’s Daily urged an “imperative and urgent” regulation on cosmetic surgery advertising, after Beijing launched a widespread campaign targeting industries including technology and celebrity fan culture.
On Sept. 14, the regime mouthpiece criticized China’s beauty industry for what it called misleading consumers’ aesthetic tastes and values, and driving the pursuit of good looks as a shortcut to success.
In recent years, demand for plastic surgery or medical aesthetic treatment has boomed in China. Inspired by elements of foreign culture, such as Japan’s manga comics and South Korea’s K-Pop, young adults in China now tend to seek V-shaped jawlines, wider eyes, and higher noses.
The newspaper warned the clinics had crossed the regulatory redline for spreading false claims, which failed to caution people about potential risks behind the treatment.
“Medical beauty advertisements are overwhelmingly pervasive,” it said.
Yet the spate of a wide-ranging regulatory overhaul has raised investors’ concerns over the sectors that might come under scrutiny next and how long it will last.
China released a five-year plan on Aug. 11 to tighten social control, claiming laws will be strengthened for “key fields” such as technology, culture, and public health, to meet people’s demands for “a good life.”
Earlier this month, Shanghai’s market regulator fined the Chinese unit of Canada Goose Holdings Inc. 450,000 yuan ($70,000) for false advertising in June.
