Advisor calls to ban kids from commercial ads
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-03-05 17:05

A political advisor from central China's Hunan Province has called for a legislation against the "rampant involvement of children in commercial advertisements", which he said would lead to "spiritual pollution" of the country's younger generations.

"In recent years, more and more commercial advertisements in China involve the participation of children, which is a 'spiritual pollution' of our naive and innocent kids," said Cai Zixing, a member of the Tenth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top advisory body now in its annual full session in Beijing.

Although the participation in advertising activities, such as the shooting of TV commercials, could help the involved kids improve their "communicating and acting skills" to some extent, such practice will bring more harm than benefits to the children, said Cai.

"Making our kids involved in the market economy and various commercial activities too early will exert a negative impact on their healthy growth, and the pursuit of fame and money will put them under great pressure and even lead to mental trauma," argued the advisor.

It is also immoral for the advertisers to use some kids as their "tools" to "tempt other children to buy their products," added Cai.

He also argued that the involvement of children in advertising is "actually a form of using child labor," which has violated China's labor law.

"I have submitted a proposal regarding this issue to the ongoing CPPCC session, calling for an early amendment to the existing advertising law," said Cai.

The amendment should clearly ban all children aged under 12 from taking part in any commercial advertising activities, and impose strict restrictions upon advertisements targeting children younger than 12 or 13 years old.

"I also hope that schools, teachers and parents in the country will enhance their awareness of children protection and keep their kids and students away from advertising activities," Cai added.

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