China to tighten control on sex-related TV advertisements

Beijing: China's television watchdog has initiated a fresh round of crackdowns on sex-related TV commercials, warning it might go as far as revoking broadcasting licences for those companies acting out of line.

According to a circular posted Saturday on the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) website, all commercials for drugs, medical equipment and health supplements for sexual enhancement should be "resisted and cleansed" by radio and TV broadcasting authorities at all levels.

The SARFT would name and shame the offending broadcasters and would temporarily ban them from airing all commercial advertisements as punishment, according to the circular cited by Xinhua news agency.

The watchdog would even revoke a company's broadcasting licence if the case was serious enough, the circular said.

It also urged broadcasting authorities to tighten their rein on TV shopping programmes, and to verify enterprises' qualifications before airing their TV shopping commercials.

According to statistics released by the consumer society of the northeastern province of Jilin, TV shopping programmes complaints lodged by farmers accounted for 50 percent of total consumer complaints in the first half of 2009.