China bans Year of the Pig ads to 'show respect to Muslims'

Ming Pao HK - China has long been portrayed by the West as being oppressive against religion. Well, perhaps it depends on what religion.

When the Lunar Year of the Pig is fast approaching, China's largest state-owned CCTV recently received an order from the government that prohibits airing of any TV ads that contains images of the pig. This is a measures aims to avoid offending the Muslims in China, in order to "protect the harmony between different religions and ethnic groups".

According to the Chinese edition of the Asia Wall Street Journal, CCTV issued a notice to all advertising agencies on Jan 23 that "China is a multi-ethnic country...in order to show respect to the Muslims, as instructed by the respective government unit, that CCTV will not air any ads containing images of the pig throughout 2007. This measures also applies to ads related to the Chinese New Year."

Images of the pig to be banned includes photographs, cartoons, paper cutting silhouettes, and even "Happy Year of the Pig" slogans.

Many corporations were surprised by the notice as most CNY ads have already been produced. Some just decided to re-do all CNY ads.

Nestle SA has initially prepared a smiling pig cartoon ad to celebrate "Happy Year of the Pig". Spokesperson said they would follow the requirements and change the content accordingly.

Coca Cola has prepared two sets of CNY cartoon ads with leading characters being a panda and a pig respectively. The company said they will still air the pig ad but will not air it in local TV stations where there is a large Muslim population.

Mindshare Shanghai told Deutsche Presse Agentur that the "No-Pigs" requirement was ordered by the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party, which is responsible for ideological propaganda. The agency said the order was made by committee member Li Changchun, quoting fear of conflicts between ethnic groups.

CCTV refused to say from which department was the order being made, saying the notice was an "internal document".

China has about 8.6m Muslims. Ma Yunfu, vice chair of the Islam Society of China said Muslims hate pigs and they would not even mention the word "pig" in their daily life. Ma didn't know about the notice CCTV received, but he believed what the government wanted to do was to "immunize" against any possible troubles.

In an academic forum held by the society in Beijing last year, the society urged Islam organizations across China to prepare for the arrival of the Year of the Pig, to "draft contingency plans to prevent any unfortunate instances."

The society also suggested Islam organizations to "advertise in local newspaper, magazines and TV about the basic knowledge of the Islam religion, its customs and taboos," so that "non-Muslims could understand and respect the sentiments of the Muslims."

See also:
To Muslims in China, pigs are black: Interview of a Hui lady


Tags: china, muslims, islam, year of the pig, multicultural, multiethnic, religions, ethnic harmony