Shanghai's Huangpu industrial and commercial authority has ordered a fashion promotion exhibition on the city's Jinling Road E. to remove earthquake relief slogans from its advertisements.

Officials found the exhibition organizers distributing pamphlets on Jinling Road. The pamphlets said international brands were offering 50 to 90 percent discounts at the exhibition at the Ya Long International Plaza and some of the profits would go to earthquake survivors.

The Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau Huangpu District branch, however, found that there was no contract with civil authorities or authorized charities to make donations.

"We believe they took advantage of the disaster to attract customers," said Hu Jian, an official with the bureau.

Officials also found some of the exhibitors were not authorized to use the brand names. The bureau ordered organizers to remove the disaster relief references from ads and evict illegal exhibitors.

(Shanghai Daily June 19, 2008)