From The Wall Street Journal:
Next month, China will ring in the Year of the Pig. Nestl√© SA planned to celebrate with TV ads featuring a smiling cartoon pig. “Happy new pig year,” the ads said.
This week, China Central Television, the national state-run TV network, banned Nestl√©’s ad — and all images and spoken references to the animal in commercials, including those tied to the Lunar New Year, China’s biggest holiday.
The intent: to avoid offending Muslims, who consider pigs unclean. “China is a multiethnic country,” the network’s ad department said in a notice sent to ad agencies late Tuesday. “To show respect to Islam, and upon guidance from higher levels of the government, CCTV will keep any ‘pig’ images off the TV screen.” [Full Text]
