China bans images, mention of pigs on TV ads
Beijing, Jan 27 (DPA) China's ruling Communist Party has banned images and mention of pigs in television advertisements aired over the lunar new year to avoid offending the country's Muslims, an advertising agency said Friday.
'We were told by the CCTV (China Central Television) censorship team that the CCTV advertising department announced a new regulation on pigs in its internal document,' an executive at the Shanghai-based Mindshare agency told DPA.
The ban also applies to cartoons and traditional paper-cut images of pigs, and to slogans such as 'golden pig brings you fortune' and 'wish you a happy pig year,' the executive said.
He said the decision was taken 'in order to avoid nationality conflicts' and issued by Li Changchun, a top party propaganda official and a member of the party's elite Politburo.
The regulation only applies to advertisements.
CCTV and other state broadcasters normally run dozens of popular variety shows and other special programmes before and during the one-week national holiday to mark the lunar new year, or Spring Festival.
The Year of the Pig begins on February 18.
