Civil Liability For Deceptive Advertisement Endorsed By Celebrity

With the speedy development of economy, advertisement campaign which becomes indispensable to daily life is getting more and more frequent. In China, celebrities who have are recognizable and high credibility are the ones that sponsor like to hire. Deceptive advertisement by celebrity endorsement which has the characteristics of universality, fraudulence and misleading is more harmful to society. In the past years, there have been more and more disputes brought to court resulting from deceptive advertisement by celebrity. The court always found in favour of the consumers. In China, legislation concerning the accountability for celebrities who endorse deceptive advertisement is not that advanced. Therefore, it is both theoretically and practically significant to research on the accountability for celebrities who endorse deceptive advertisement.This paper is composed of 5 parts.Part 1 put forwards the issues involved. It explores the consequences caused by deceptive advertisement by celebrity endorsement on the basis of several disputes. It also points out the legislative defects under China's relevant legal provisions.Part 2 expounds the necessity for the accountability for celebrities who endorse deceptive advertisement. Theoretically speaking, it is controversial to hold celebrities accountable for deceptive advertisement. This part introduces the theoretical base for holding celebrities accountable for deceptive advertisement by refuting the theories that celebrities are not accountable for deceptive advertisement.Part 3 is about the attribution of civil responsibility for celebrities who endorse deceptive advertisement. It mainly focuses on the points advanced by highly publicists and analyses the elements of liability for tort.Part 4 is about under what circumstances shall celebrities be held accountable. This part explores the accountability based on the analysis of part 3. It introduces the criterion of liability and the forms of liability.Part 5 presents proposals to enhance legislation concerning the accountability for celebrities who endorse deceptive advertisement. This part advances approaches that serve to regulate celebrity endorsement.