软文广告的形式、危害和治理——对《广告法》第13条的研究

Blind Advertising: Its Form, Harm and Regulation: Based on Article 13 of the Advertisement Act of the PRC

软文广告在目前我国的大众媒体中盛行,这缘于它在较多情形下比虚假广告更能激发受众的购买欲望,以及政府打击的不力、受害消费者权利主张的困难等原因。为抑制软文广告,有效的治理对策是必要的。制度的完善应该从广告标记、法律责任等方面展开。在广告标记方面,应该重视广告主体运用非语言信息规避法律的问题;在法律责任设定方面,由于软文广告的危害较长时间以来被严重低估,因此应该全面评估软文广告的对消费者、媒体的消极影响。应该加重媒体的行政责任,设定其他责任主体的行政责任,并增设责任主体的民事责任等。

Blind advertising, which has the tendency to induce consumers to contact the advertisement and which fails to reveal that the primary purpose of the advertisement is the sale of goods or services, is now rampant in China. The reason of pervasiveness of blind advertising lies in that while it may more readily arouse consumers＇ aspiration for purchase than false advertisement does, it is less regulated by the government. Also, the victims of blind advertising find it hard to claim their rights. To crack down blind advertising, we should take effective regulatory measures, among which advertisement labels and legal liabilities are of paramount importance. As to advertisement labels, significance should be attached to the phenomenon that advertisers evade punishment with non-verbal information. In terms of legal liabilities, since the harm arising out of or pertaining to blind advertising has long been underestimated, the adverse effect caused by blind advertising upon consumers and the media should be thoroughly assessed. The media should bear more administrative liability and administrative as well as civil duties should also ascertained for or added to some proper agencies.