Asides from making claims that they are the best, companies and advertisers cannot use other forms of superlatives. Terms such as “highest” and “supreme” cannot be used by companies and advertisers.
The new rules will go into effect this month. The previously rules already restricted the use of superlatives, but the new guidelines clarifies punishments for using superlatives. Now, companies and advertisers in China can be fined around $30,000 to almost $160,000.
Some sites have already stopped including products for search terms with superlatives. JD.com and Taobao are a few of the sites that don’t show products for superlatives.
Other companies have also been handling the new law. Li Guoqing, chief executive of E-Commerce China Dangdang, said that Dangdang’s technicians are so honest, they even banned the word ‘highest’ in the titles of books. He added that years ago Dangdang was fined around $78,000 for exaggerating in a promotion for a tea product.
In the United States, the practice of using some superlatives to tout products is legal under a concept called puffery.
