Research Institutions Unreasonably Narrow Scope to Endorse "First" and "Pioneering" in Advertising, Market Supervision Bureau Strengthens Oversight

According to the website of the State Administration for Market Regulation on March 13, the Administration recently issued the “Notice on Strengthening the Supervision of Promotional Language in Advertising,” deploying a six-month campaign to clean up and rectify related advertising irregularities.

The notice states that in recent years, market regulation authorities have strengthened advertising enforcement, further improved advertising regulations, and the advertising market order has continued to improve. However, the bad habit of “playing word games” in commercial marketing and promotion still exists. Some operators use tactics like “big characters to attract attention, small characters to disclaim,” emphasizing the main selling points of products or services while significantly downplaying unfavorable information that could influence consumers’ purchasing decisions. Some even rely on seemingly tailored evidence to promote “carrot-and-stick” citations. These advertising irregularities intensify market “involution” competition, prompting strong feedback from the public and business entities.

Pengpai News notes that for marketing irregularities such as casually claiming to be “Number One,” “First,” or “Best,” the State Administration for Market Regulation has made key deployments. These include guiding market research service agencies to conduct their business scientifically and legally, avoiding industry, field, or regional restrictions that unjustifiably endorse claims of being “first” or “number one” in advertising.

The notice states that advertising that uses absolute language to promote product or service sales volume, revenue, or market share, when the relevant industry, field, or region does not align with national or industry standards, may mislead consumers about the market position or competitive advantages of operators and their products or services, and can be deemed false advertising. For ads containing absolute language that are illegal but not subject to administrative penalties under law, authorities should educate the parties involved while deciding not to impose penalties. If the parties repeatedly produce and publish ads with absolute language despite education, they should be penalized.

The Administration requires strengthening supervision of advertisers’ self-verified content. Advertisers can rely on their own data or experiments conducted independently to substantiate claims in advertisements. If the data or experimental reports have time, geographic, or other limitations that are not clearly indicated in the ad, or if such limitations are not clearly communicated in easily understandable text or speech, the ad may be deemed unclear or misleading. In serious cases that could cause consumer misunderstanding, the ad can be considered false advertising.

The notice also emphasizes strengthening supervision over major advertising media. Specifically, it calls for increased oversight of internet platforms, urging platform companies to fulfill their responsibilities, enhance ad compliance within the platform, and prevent the publication of misleading “sizeable small print” ads. Platforms should promptly address misleading advertisements. Supervision of outdoor advertising facilities should be strengthened, requiring operators to fulfill their responsibilities, review outdoor ads carefully, and stop providing publishing services for misleading ads. Advertising design and production units are guided to improve the prominence of citation and warning content during the design process, ensuring that warning language is easily recognizable, with font size proportionate to the main promotional message, and font color that clearly contrasts with the background. Market research agencies are advised to conduct their activities scientifically and legally, participate in advertising activities prudently and compliantly, and avoid industry, field, or regional restrictions that unjustifiably endorse claims of being “first” or “number one” in advertising.