A controversy is, well, brewing in China's ad world following a rare expose of a celebrity endorsement for a brand of Tibetan tea that, its manufacturers claim, can miraculously lead to weight loss.
HONG KONG: A controversy is, well, brewing in China's ad world following a rare expose of a celebrity endorsement for a brand of Tibetan tea that, its manufacturers claim, can miraculously lead to weight loss.
The celebrity in the eye of the storm is Guo Degang, a well-known - and corpulent - exponent of a traditional Chinese art form known as xiangsheng, or Comedy Crosstalk. Guo endorsed TV- and print-media campaigns for Zang Mi Pai You (or Secret Tibetan Fat-Busting Tea) that claimed that a sip a day could drain body fat away. Guo says that before he signed on, he - and his friends and family - tested the product and were well pleased with the results.
But recently, public broadcaster CCTV ran a sensational - and entirely uncharacteristic - expose of the `fake ad’, citing complaints from many consumers. One of these consumers was a calorific 58-year-old woman, who claimed incredibly that far from losing weight, she had gained 100 kg in 20 days after consuming the herbal concoction as prescribed! CCTV noted pointedly that Guo had been paid a 'fat' fee for endorsing the product, and cited consumer rights provisions in Western countries that allow consumers to sue celebrities for damages in the event of "fake advertising". China is, of course, a long way from enacting anything like a consumer protection law, but its lawmakers have in recent times publicly articulated a heightened concern about "misleading ads".
Although forced on the defensive, Guo claimed in his personal blog that the CCTV expose was a 'hatchet job' intended to tarnish his reputation because he had declined to appear on the television channel's Spring Gala event during the recent Chinese New Year. Exhibiting flashes of his talent as a comic crosstalk star, he noted that another celebrity had endorsed an infertility treatment procedure, and asked rhetorically: "If you bring your great-grandmother to the clinic, and she fails to become pregnant, will you curse the celebrity who endorsed the treatment? Wrong, you should instead blame your great-grandfather!"
The Beijing Consumers' Association, however, is far from amused. It has issued an open letter cautioning celebrities to "take responsibility for their actions" while endorsing products. Catty commentators, however, have noted that the Consumers' Association's epistolatory efforts do not carry much weight!
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