In order to further regulate the release behaviors of food and health food advertisements, protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, and maintain the order of the advertising market, in accordance with the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China, Interim Measures for the Review and Administration of Advertisements of Drugs, Medical Devices, Health Food and Food for Special Medical Purpose and other laws and regulations, now the tips on design, production, agency, release of food and health food advertisements are as follows:

I. The release of advertisements should not contain false or misleading content, and should not deceive or mislead consumers.

II. Food advertisements are not allowed to be claimed health functions, are not allowed to be involved the prevention or treatment of diseases, and are not allowed to be used medical terms or terms that are easy to confuse marketed food with drugs or medical devices. No food safety supervision department of the People's Government above the county level, other relevant departments, food inspection agencies, food industry associations may recommend foods to consumers by advertising or other forms.

III. The release of advertisements for health food should clearly indicate the approval number of the advertisement, and should not be released without review by advertising review authority. Advertisers, advertising agents and advertising publishers should publish advertisements in strict accordance with the contents approved by review, and should not edit, splice or modify them. If the content of an advertisement that has been reviewed and approved needs to be changed, it should apply for a new advertisement review.

IV. The advertisements of health food should clearly indicate the health food logo, suitable people and unsuitable people, and that "health food is not a drug, and cannot replace drugs to treat diseases". It is not allowed to claim or imply that the advertised commodities are necessary for health protection, compare with drugs or other health food, involve the function of disease prevention or treatment, and appear any assertion or guarantee of efficacy or safety.

V. The advertisements of health food should not contain "hot sale, rush, trial", "family essential, free" and other inductive contents, "evaluation, sorting, recommendation, designation, selection, award" and other comprehensive evaluation contents, "invalid refund, insurance company coverage" and other assurance contents, and should not encourage consumers to use health food arbitrarily and excessively.

VI. The advertisements of health food should not contain "safe", "safe and non-toxic side effects", "small toxic side effects", express or imply that ingredients are "natural", safety is guaranteed, etc.

VII. In the advertisements of health food, the name or image of scientific research unit, academic institution, industry association or expert, scholar, physician, pharmacist, clinical dietitians, patients, etc. should not be used for recommendation or proof.

VIII. The advertisements of health food should not cause unnecessary concern and fear to the public about the health condition and disease, or contain content that makes the public misunderstand that the non-use of the product will cause a disease or aggravate the disease.

IX. Radio stations, television stations, newspaper and audio-visual publishing units, Internet information service providers are not allowed to publish health food advertisements in disguised forms such as introducing health knowledge.

The food, health food manufacturers and business operators and advertising design, production, agency, publishing units should strictly review the content of advertising in accordance with laws, carefully self-check and rectify.

Source: Shuangyashan Administration for Market Regulation

Note: This article is compiled by Antion. Please indicate the source for reprint.