THE People’s Daily newspaper said it was “imperative and urgent” to regulate advertisements bombarding people with recommendations for cosmetic surgery, procedures and treatments, as they had become excessive, and some made false claims.

“From posters at bus stops and in subway, to introductions on social websites and content platforms, from advertisements planted in films and television variety shows, to promotions by live-streamers, medical beauty advertisements are overwhelmingly pervasive,” the newspaper said in a commentary published on its website.

The People’s Daily said some advertisements associate good looks with “high-quality,” “diligence” and “success,” fabricating stories about “plastic surgery changing one’s destiny” and distorting aesthetic perceptions.

In August, China’s market regulator drafted guidelines to regulate the medical aesthetics sector’s advertising practices, saying that they were prompting societal anxiety over people’s looks.

Demand for plastic surgery, or medical aesthetic treatment, has boomed in China in recent years with procedures to make one’s eyes wider or nose higher among the most popular. However, they have been criticized for failing to caution people about risks.

In July, a 33-year-old online influencer died from complications after a botched liposuction procedure in a case that was widely reported by media in China.

The market for plastic surgery in China is expected to grow to 300 billion yuan (US$46.54 billion) by 2022, news agency Xinhua reported last month, citing a report by the Chinese Association of Plastics and Aesthetics.

(SD-Agencies)