The Taipei City Government promised to take ads for an online game featuring a girl with large breasts off city buses yesterday after a growing number of complaints that the ads were objectifying women.
The National Communications Commission (NCC) said recently that the content of several ads for online games may have violated the Satellite Radio and Television Act (衛星廣播電視法) and banned one of the ads, featuring a girl named Shushu (舒舒) operating a jackhammer with close-ups of her breasts, from being shown on TV.
The print version of the ad, however, has been placed on the side of 26 buses in Taipei, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Wu Su-yao (吳思瑤) told a press conference yesterday.
PHOTO: CNA
Chien Shu-pei (簡舒培), a member of the Taipei Association for the Promotion of Women's Rights, said such ads exploited the bodies of young girls and had a negative impact on children and women. She urged the city government to take action against the ads.
In response, Taipei City's Public Transportation Office deputy Director Liang Heng-de (梁恆德) acknowledged that the city government had been negligent and said his office would negotiate with the bus companies to have the ads removed immediately.
Wu criticized the city government for relaxing regulations on reviewing ads on public transport vehicles and infrastructure, including in MRT stations and on buses, and urged the city government to conduct a city-wide inspection of ads.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) later promised to be more cautious on sexually suggestive ads during a question-and-answer session at the Taipei City Council.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central