Among 931 advertisements surveyed involving gender issues, 88 percent used women to promote products or as 'sex objects', according to a report released by China's Women Reporter Association yesterday.

 

The report reviewed 4,935 advertisements aired on 10 TV channels including China Central Television (CCTV) No.1, Beijing Television No.1 and Shanghai News Entertainment Channel and picked out 931 gender issues.

 

"Women seemed to be particularly favored by ads," said the report, adding that 70.5 percent of all the ads had women as the main characters.

 

"Most women are revealed through close-up scenes, highlighting their body features, and many women are described as housewives," the report said.

 

"Generally speaking, most ads have gender discrimination problems, though there are also some featuring gender equality," it stated.

 

The association also ranked China's top 10 sex discriminating ads and 10 gender awareness ads for 2005 in line with rules including whether females also have independent social strength, whether they misinform children about sex and if women have well-rounded characters instead of being fragile and demanding of care.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2006)