China’s People’s Daily newspaper said it was “imperative and urgent” to regulate advertisements bombarding people with recommendations for cosmetic surgery, procedures and treatments, as the ads have become excessive, with some making false claims.
“From posters at bus stops and in subways, to introductions on social Web sites and content platforms, from advertisements planted in films and television variety shows, to promotions by live-streamers, medical beauty advertisements are overwhelmingly pervasive,” the Chinese Communist Party’s official newspaper said in a commentary published on its Web site.
The People’s Daily said that some advertisements associate good looks with “high-quality,” “diligence” and “success,” fabricating stories about “plastic surgery changing one’s destiny” and distorting aesthetic perceptions.
Last month, the Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation drafted guidelines to regulate the medical aesthetics sector’s advertising practices, saying that they were prompting societal anxiety over people’s looks.
Demand for plastic surgery or medical aesthetic treatment has boomed in China in the past few years, with procedures to make one’s eyes wider or nose higher among the most popular.
However, the ads have been criticized for failing to caution people about risks.
In July, a 33-year-old online influencer died from complications after a botched liposuction procedure in a case that was widely reported by media in China.
The market for plastic surgery in China is expected to grow to 300 billion yuan (US$46.54 billion) by next year, the Xinhua news agency reported last month, citing a report by the Chinese Association of Plastics and Aesthetics.
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