ABSTRACT
Prior to 1949, China’s advertising regulation system was mainly the self-restraint of the newspaper advertising industry. The emergence of advertising regulation was closely related to modern commercial newspaper ads and the arrival of somewhat deceptive, immoral advertisements. Thus, many newspapers began to formulate self-regulatory provisions. In May 1920, the National Federation of the Press adopted a regulation to ban all kinds of unacceptable ads. In 1927, six advertising agencies in Shanghai set up the China Advertising Association, the first advertising industry guild organization: It aimed to protect common interests, to resolve disputes between agencies, and to facilitate contact with newspapers. During the 1930s, some media simply enacted self-regulatory provisions, banning ads that were thought to damage the reputation of others, or were deceptive, immoral, or absurd. Harmful drugs ads, offensive book ads, fortune-telling ads and superstition ads were also banned.
