collect! Content requirements for food advertisements

Advertisement refers to commercial advertisements in which commodity operators or service providers bear the expenses and directly or indirectly introduce the commodities they sell or the services they provide through certain media and forms. Food advertising is an important type of advertising. Food advertisements include advertisements for ordinary food, health food and special dietary food, etc.

(1) The content of food advertisements should be true and legal and should not contain false information

The so-called truth refers to the conformity with objective facts. The life of advertising lies in truth. When it comes to food advertisements, the name, origin, use, quality, price, producer, shelf life and production date of the food should be truthfully introduced. No false or exaggerated propaganda should be carried out, nor should artistic exaggeration be abused to violate the principle of authenticity. Because advertising is only a means of introduction, promotion and publicity. Whether it is recognized by consumers depends on the food itself. Only by seeking truth from facts can we ultimately gain the trust and support of consumers.

Food advertisements that describe the product's performance, function, origin, use, quality, ingredients, price, producer, validity period, promises, etc., or the content, provider, form, quality, price, promises, etc. of services, must be accurate, clear and understandable. If a food advertisement indicates that the goods or services being promoted come with a gift, the type, specification, quantity, deadline and method of the gift must be clearly stated. If the matters involved in food advertisements require administrative approval, they must be consistent with the content of the approval.

Food advertisements that use data, statistics, survey results, abstracts, quotations and other citation content must be truthful and accurate, and the source must be indicated. If the cited content has an applicable scope and validity period, it shall be clearly stated. If food advertisements involve patented products or patented methods, the patent number and patent type should be indicated. Food advertisements should be identifiable so that consumers can identify them as advertisements. Mass media shall not publish food advertisements in disguised form as news reports. Food advertisements released through mass media should be clearly marked as "advertisements" to distinguish them from other non-advertising information and must not mislead consumers.

The so-called legal means complying with the Food Safety Law, Advertising Law and other relevant laws and regulations. Food advertisements shall not contain the following: using or disguised use of the national flag, national anthem, national emblem, military flag, military song, or military emblem of the People's Republic of China; using or disguised use of the name or image of state organs or state organ personnel; using terms such as "national level", "highest level", and "best"; damaging the dignity or interests of the country, or leaking state secrets; hindering social stability, or damaging the public interest; endangering the safety of people and property, or leaking personal privacy; hindering social public order or violating good social customs; containing content that is obscene, pornographic, gambling, superstitious, terrorist, or violent; containing content that discriminates against ethnicity, race, religion, or gender; hindering the protection of the environment, natural resources, or cultural heritage; and other circumstances prohibited by laws and administrative regulations.

Food advertisements shall not harm the physical and mental health of minors and the disabled; nor shall they disparage the goods or services of other producers and operators.

The so-called falsehood refers to the fact that the content of the advertisement is inconsistent with the objective facts, such as promoting non-award-winning food as award-winning food, or promoting non-imported food as imported food. Article 4 of the Advertising Law stipulates that advertisements shall not contain false or misleading content, and shall not deceive or mislead consumers. Article 28 stipulates that advertisements that deceive or mislead consumers with false or misleading content constitute false advertising.

False advertising specifically includes: (1) goods or services that do not exist; (2) information about the goods’ performance, function, origin, use, quality, specifications, ingredients, price, producer, validity period, sales status, honors, etc., or information about the service’s content, provider, form, quality, price, sales status, honors, etc., as well as promises related to the goods or services that do not match the actual situation and have a substantial impact on purchasing behavior; (3) using fictitious, forged, or unverifiable scientific research results, statistical data, survey results, abstracts, quotations, and other information as supporting materials; (4) fabricating the effects of using goods or receiving services; and (5) other situations in which consumers are deceived or misled by false or misleading content.

(II) Food advertisements must not involve disease prevention or treatment functions

Disease prevention and treatment functions are functions that medicines should have, and the content of food advertisements shall not involve disease prevention and treatment functions. In this regard, Article 60 of the Drug Administration Law stipulates that non-drug advertisements shall not contain any promotion related to drugs.

Article 18, paragraph 1 of the Advertising Law stipulates that health food advertisements shall not contain assertions or guarantees indicating efficacy or safety, shall not involve disease prevention or treatment functions; shall not claim or imply that the advertised products are necessary to protect health; shall not be compared with medicines or other health foods; shall not use advertising spokespersons for recommendation or certification; and shall not contain other content prohibited by laws and administrative regulations.

Article 19 stipulates that radio stations, television stations, newspaper and audio-visual publishing units, and Internet information service providers shall not publish health food advertisements in disguised forms such as introducing health and wellness knowledge. Article 7 of the Interim Provisions on the Publication of Food Advertisements stipulates that food advertisements shall not contain terms that may be confused with medicines, shall not directly or indirectly promote therapeutic effects, and shall not explicitly or implicitly indicate the therapeutic effects of the food by promoting the effects of certain ingredients.

While the relevant competent authorities are stepping up their crackdown efforts, they have also successively announced typical cases of illegal food advertisements (the content of the advertisements involves disease prevention and treatment functions): for example, a health food advertisement claimed that "as long as two pills are taken before bed, women can be reborn like magic and postpone menopause by 5-10 years"; a jade barley tea food advertisement claimed that "drinking tea will cure cholecystitis, bile polyps, common bile duct stones, gallbladder stones, intrahepatic bile duct stones, kidney stones, ureteral stones, bladder stones, urethral stones, and hydronephrosis", and used the names of experts and consumers to prove the efficacy of its products. According to the provisions of this Law, the Drug Administration Law and the Advertising Law, anyone who violates the law and the content of food advertisements involves disease prevention and treatment functions shall bear corresponding legal responsibilities.

(III) Food producers and operators are responsible for the authenticity and legality of food advertisements

Ensuring the authenticity and legality of food advertisements and maintaining the credibility of advertisements are the social and legal responsibilities of food producers and operators. Article 4, Paragraph 2 of the Advertising Law stipulates that advertisers shall be responsible for the authenticity of the advertising content. Therefore, every advertiser must be responsible for his own advertisement. Article 55 of the Advertising Law stipulates that if an advertiser publishes false advertisements, the industrial and commercial administrative department shall order the advertiser to stop publishing the advertisements, order the advertiser to eliminate the impact within the corresponding scope, and the relevant authorities shall impose administrative penalties.

Article 69 provides that advertisers, advertising operators and advertising publishers who commit any of the following infringements shall bear civil liability in accordance with the law: (1) damaging the physical or mental health of minors or disabled persons in advertisements; (2) counterfeiting other people's patents; (3) devaluing the goods or services of other producers and operators; (4) using the name or image of another person in an advertisement without consent; (5) other infringements on the legitimate civil rights of others.

(IV) Specific entities shall not recommend food to consumers through advertising or other forms.

Food and drug supervision and administration departments and other relevant departments of people's governments at or above the county level, as well as food inspection institutions and food industry associations shall not recommend food to consumers through advertising or other forms. The food and drug supervision and administration departments and other relevant departments of the people's governments at or above the county level are state organs with supervisory responsibilities, including supervisory departments for all aspects of food production, sales, and catering services.

Food inspection agencies are professional organizations that inspect food in accordance with the law, including food inspection agencies and other agencies that assume food inspection responsibilities.

It is very easy for food safety supervision and management departments and institutions responsible for food inspection to be involved in conflicts of interest when recommending food. Therefore, they should remain neutral and implement supervision or inspection in accordance with the law and impartially. The Food Industry Association is a non-profit social group legal entity voluntarily formed by enterprises, institutions, scientific research units and food industry workers in the food industry. It provides services, coordination, self-discipline and supervision to the food industry.

It is inconsistent with the duties of food industry associations to recommend food produced and sold by a certain company to consumers through advertising or other forms. This will undermine their neutrality as a public welfare organization and is not conducive to creating a fair and just market competition environment.

Therefore, this law stipulates that the above-mentioned specific entities are not allowed to recommend food to consumers through advertising or other forms.

Consumer organizations shall not recommend food to consumers by charging fees or by other means of seeking profit. This provision is the new content of this revision, which is mainly connected with the provisions of Article 38 of the Consumer Protection Law. Consumer associations and other consumer organizations are social organizations established in accordance with the law to conduct social supervision of commodities and services and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.

Consumer organizations can be divided into two categories: one is organizations with statutory functions initiated and established by the government, such as consumer associations, consumer rights protection committees, etc.; the other is private interest non-governmental organizations spontaneously established by consumers for self-protection.

Regardless of the type of consumer organization, it is of a public welfare nature and, therefore, is not allowed to engage in commodity operations and profit-making services.

(V) Special provisions on food advertising

In addition, in addition to requiring that the content of health food advertisements must be true and legal, must not contain false content, and must not involve disease prevention and treatment functions, they must also state that "this product cannot replace medicine"; their content must be reviewed and approved by the food and drug supervision and administration department of the provincial, autonomous regional, or municipal people's government where the production enterprise is located, and obtain health food advertisement approval documents.

The food and drug supervision and administration departments of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government shall publish and promptly update the catalogue of approved health food advertisements and the approved advertising content. Advertisements for special medical purpose formula foods are subject to the Advertising Law and other laws and administrative regulations on the management of drug advertisements.

Author: Food Labeling Circle

Source: Food Labeling Circle