Do not buy therapies or devices that claim to “cure paralysis, blindness, or deafness”

The Advertising Law (广告法) draws a hard line. Ads for medical care, drugs, or medical devices must not guarantee efficacy, must not state cure rates or effectiveness rates, and must not use endorsers to recommend or prove. So lines like “stand up after three courses” or “so many people have recovered” are illegal ads on their face; you do not need to study the claimed mechanism. Things that are not medical devices are not even allowed to mention treating disease.

Cost

No money — it saves money. The hard part is family holding onto hope and being hard to talk out of it.

Benefit

Article 16 of the Advertising Law (广告法) states that ads for medical care, drugs, or medical devices must not contain: “(1) assertions or guarantees of efficacy or safety; (2) statements of cure rate or effectiveness rate; (3) comparisons of efficacy or safety with other drugs, medical devices, or other medical institutions; (4) use of an advertising endorser for recommendation or proof.” Article 17 states that except for ads for medical care, drugs, or medical devices, “any other ad is forbidden from involving disease-treatment functions, and must not use medical wording or wording that easily confuses the promoted goods with drugs or medical devices.” Article 4 states that ads must not contain false or misleading content, must not deceive or mislead consumers, and the advertiser is responsible for the truth of the ad content (nationwide, amended 2021)

Notes

There is only one test: whether it dares to overstate. A proper hospital rehabilitation department will not promise you will stand up after a set number of courses. Report such promotion to 12315 or the local market regulator. Health-product scripts follow the same path — see Section 6, item 10 (health products). If you already bought and want money back, use the online-purchase and prepaid-consumption routes — see Section 5, item 29 (online purchases follow platform rules). Beneficiaries are you and your family.

Sources · 1

1. 中华人民共和国广告法（2021 年修正，第四条、第十六条、第十七条）. flk.npc.gov.cn/detail?id=ff8081817ab231eb017a…