China's Iron-Fist Advertising, Phone and Internet Policies

In the People's Republic of Capitalism, aka China, placing your ad during the Games can be an Olympic battle. Also getting new phone or Internet service during the next couple of months will be a Herculean task.

According to Advertising Age magazine (by subscription only), the Chinese authorities "are restricting access to outdoor media in the capital through the end of September for Olympic sponsors."

"Their heavy-handed actions, the most stringent and controlling ever put in place by an Olympic Games host," the article says, "apply mostly to a 20-kilometer zone around the main venues of the Olympic Games, which start Aug. 8."

What the government is trying to do is using its totalitarian powers to avoid a common practice during previous Games, the so-called ambush marketing and guerrilla tactics by non-sponsoring advertisers who try to capitalize on the attention the Olympics attract.

"Throughout 2007, Beijing's government methodically dismantled billboards and poster sites erected by unofficial media vendors, leaving only the sites that could be easily controlled," the article says.

But these heavy-handed actions are backfiring, frustrating not only unofficial advertisers but also the companies sponsoring the Games.

"In mid-May, the government invalidated existing media contracts for outdoor media such as posters, bus shelters and subway advertising in Beijing as well as at the city's international airport, forcing Olympic sponsors to renegotiate as space for those venues in bundled packages," its adds.

And we all know absolute power corrupts absolutely. According to the magazine, corruption is flourishing because of this authoritarian decision.

One media executive in Shanghai who did not want to be identified told Advertising Age that, "There seems to be a lot of underhand deals going on, some relating to money and some simply to who you know. The frustration really comes down to the fact that they don't have choice. They just have to take what they get."

But official censorship in China seems to know no limits. The magazine also reports that the distribution of Time Out, a popular guide for foreign tourists in Beijing, has been banned by the authorities for fear of potential trouble. Incidentally, Time Out, published in English, has never run into trouble with the official censors before.

Of course, the Internet is not immune to the world's most powerful censoring machine. The magazine reports that the government "has ordered China Telecom, which controls fixed-line telecom services; China Mobile, the world's largest mobile-phone service provider; and internet provider China Netcom Corp. to stop adding new customers in August."

"The official reason is that it wants service providers to focus on providing good service during the Olympics, but it's also a move to block anyone who might take advantage of the Games to protest by stopping people from adding new phone or Internet connections," the magazine informs.

China, no doubt, takes the gold in the censoring games.