Beijing has banned outdoor advertisements and billboards promoting luxurious lifestyles, as the government aims to curb public concerns about the increasing wealth gap in China.
The government has banned words such as “luxury”, “supreme” and “high class” from being used to promote real estate.
The city of Chongqing has enforced similar regulations forbidding the words “unique”, “best” and “irreplaceable” in property advertisements last week.
The Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce said that property companies have until 15 April to remove or replace the newly prohibited ads, or face fines of up to 30,000 yuan (US$4,600).
The regulation also bans excessive promotion of “foreign” products. Without elaborating on what type of “foreign” items have been banned, the regulation said that such advertisements create a politically “unhealthy” environment.
Since inflation struck low-income factory workers and farmers, the Chinese government has been expending much effort in fighting criticisms of the widening wealth gap in the country.
Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said that “resolving unfair income distribution” is a priority objective under the 2011 – 2015 state economic plan.