On March 13, 2026, the Advertising Regulation Department of China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) issued a notice on strengthening the supervision of prompt language in advertising.
Background
In recent years, the malpractice of "playing word games" in commercial marketing and publicity still persists. Some operators use methods such as "large font for attention-grabbing, small font for disclaimers" to prominently highlight the main selling points of goods or services in advertisements while significantly weakening unfavorable information that may affect consumers purchasing decisions. They even engage in "tailored citation" propaganda based on obviously customized citation information. Such advertising malpractices intensify "involution-style" competition in the market, and the masses and business entities have expressed strong reactions to this.
Announcement
To maintain advertising market order and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, it has been decided to launch a six-month cleanup and rectification campaign against prompt language malpractices in advertising starting immediately. The relevant matters are hereby notified as follows:
I. Rectify "Misleading Large and Small Font" Advertisements
Focus on advertisements for technically complex products such as mobile phones, computers, and automobiles. For advertisements that highlight product technical performance while expressing restrictive conditions or other unfavorable information for realizing technical performance in words or voice that are difficult for consumers to clearly identify, or that obviously limit or explain product performance and functions in a manner inconsistent with common understanding, the advertising content shall be determined as unclear and incomprehensible according to law; where the circumstances are serious and may cause consumers to misjudge key information such as product performance and functions, it may be determined as false advertising. Where the specific performance, functions, specifications, ingredients, uses, etc. claimed in advertisements do not conform to the actual situation of the products or services, and at the same time it is marked in "small font" that the claimed content is only the enterprise vision, etc., it may be determined as false advertising. Pay close attention to advertisements in service industries such as tourism and catering and various promotional advertising publicity. For advertisements that express unfavorable transaction conditions or preconditions for promotional offers to consumers in words or voice that are difficult for consumers to clearly identify, the advertising content shall be determined as unclear and incomprehensible according to law; where the circumstances are serious and may cause consumers to misjudge key information such as transaction conditions, it may be determined as false advertising.
II. Investigate and Deal with Failure to Label or Weakened Labeling of Prompt Language
Focus on advertisements for drugs, medical devices, health food, and special medical purpose formula foods. For advertisements that fail to label or express in words or voice that are difficult for consumers to clearly identify the prompt language required by laws and regulations such as "please purchase and use according to the drug instructions or under the guidance of a pharmacist" and "this product cannot replace drugs", order correction and impose administrative penalties according to law. Pay close attention to AI-generated advertising. Where, without the consent of the rights holder, AI is used without authorization to generate and use the image of another person in an advertisement, or a fictitious character image created by AI is used to recommend or prove products or services, but no prompt is made for the AI content, which may cause consumers to misunderstand, it may be determined as false advertising.
III. Investigate and Deal with Absolute Language Advertisements
Strengthen supervision of advertising language claiming "first", "pioneering", "best", "leading", etc., and strictly identify and investigate relevant illegal advertisements in accordance with the "Advertising Law" and the "Enforcement Guidelines for Absolute Language in Advertising" and other regulations.
Where absolute language is used in advertisements to promote information such as sales volume, sales amount, and market share of products or services, but the industry, field, region, etc. involved in the relevant expression are inconsistent with the definitions of relevant national standards and industry standards, which may cause consumers to misunderstand the market position and competitive advantages of the operator and their products or services, it may be determined as false advertising.
For absolute language advertisements that are illegal but not subject to administrative punishment according to law, when making a decision not to impose punishment, the parties shall be educated strictly in accordance with the relevant provisions of the "Administrative Punishment Law"; where the parties refuse to correct after repeated instruction and repeatedly produce or publish absolute language advertisements, punishment shall be imposed.
IV. Strengthen Supervision of Cited Advertisements
Focus on checking whether cited advertisements indicate the source of cited content according to law. For failure to indicate or indicate the source of cited content in words or voice that are difficult for consumers to clearly identify, investigate and deal with it according to law. Where an advertiser knows or should know that research reports, statistical materials, etc. issued by third parties cannot be publicly inquired, but still uses them as the source of advertising citation content, it shall be determined as cited content without source according to law. Where cited advertisements distort or exaggerate the research reports and statistical materials on which they are based, or publicize probabilistic conclusions as inevitable conclusions, etc., it may be determined as false advertising. Where an advertiser knows or should know that the research reports, statistical materials, etc. on which cited advertisements are based do not possess scientific nature, representativeness or relevance, or their content is false or misleading, it may be determined as false advertising.
V. Strengthen Supervision of Advertiser Self-Verified Content
Advertisers may use their own data, self-conducted experiments, etc. as the basis for self-verification in advertisements. Where the data, experimental reports, etc. on which self-verification is based have restrictive conditions such as time and region, and the advertiser fails to indicate the above restrictive conditions in the advertisement or fails to indicate the above restrictive conditions in words or voice that consumers can clearly identify, the advertising content shall be determined as unclear and incomprehensible according to law; where the circumstances are serious and may cause consumers to misunderstand, it may be determined as false advertising.
VI. Strengthen Supervision of Main Advertising Media
Strengthen the supervision of internet platforms, urge internet platform enterprises to fulfill platform responsibilities, increase advertising compliance within the platform, and effectively prevent requiring business entities within the platform to publish "misleading large and small font" advertisements by using platform rules, and promptly dispose of misleading advertising information within the platform.
Strengthen the supervision of outdoor advertising facility operation and management units, urge them to effectively implement the responsibilities of advertising publishers, do a good job in reviewing outdoor advertisements, and proactively stop providing publishing services for misleading advertisements. Guide advertising design and production units to pay attention to improving the prominence of advertising citation content and prompt content in the process of advertising design and production, ensure that the font of prompt language is easy to identify, its font size maintains a reasonable proportional relationship with the font size of the main promotional language, and its font color can be significantly distinguished from the background color. Guide market research service institutions to carry out business scientifically and legally, participate in advertising activities in a prudent and compliant manner, and avoid providing endorsement for advertising publicity of "pioneering", "first", etc. by unreasonably restricting the industry, field, and regional scope of research.
CIRS Reminder
It is recommended that cosmetic enterprises conduct compliance self-inspection of advertising, promptly adjust and optimize advertising content that may have compliance risks, establish and improve advertising review mechanisms, and ensure that prompt language is clear and eye-catching, cited content is scientifically compliant, and advertising claims match the actual situation of the products.
For more information on [Cosmetic Advertising Citation], please see:
Cosmetic Companies: Ensure Advertising Citations Comply with Applicable Regulations!
If you need any assistance or have any questions, please get in touch with us via service@cirs-group.com.
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