The ban, which affected all advertisements containing the image of a pig to celebrate Chinese New Year, was brought in out of sensitivity for China's Muslim population, which numbers around 20 million consumers, or two per cent of the population. CCTV officials were reportedly eager to avoid offence during the Lunar New Year.
It led to several advertisements from major international and local brands being rejected outright or forced to re-edit their commercials. But days after the ban was made public, CCTV partially reversed its decision, asking advertisers to submit their original creative to be reviewed in-house on a case-by-case basis. "Many clients have not been very supportive after CCTV banned advertisements containing the pig," said one media agency source who declined to be named.
"But under pressure from clients and other media agencies, CCTV has loosened its regulations. There was no official documentation which announced this change; we simply got a phonecall."
