SINGAPORE — In a huge revision of its guidelines to advertisers, the Chinese government has laid down the law preventing companies from proclaiming they are the best, or using other forms of superlatives.

In the first update to these guidelines in the last 20 years, companies and advertisers will not be allowed to boast about their goods and services with terms like "highest"（最高）— synonymous with "supreme."

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The new laws carry fines of up to 1 million yuan (US$157,077), and businesses which flout them may end up having their licences revoked, and their advertising agencies suspended.

It appears that large ecommerce sites like JD.com and Taobao have already moved quickly to address this. While some news outlets have discovered that a search for "highest"（最高）on Taobao returns an error message, we found that the term "best" (最好) is still allowed.

In an interview with Yicai.com, an executive with an advertising agency in China expressed his frustration (link in Chinese) with the law, saying his firm had to start over on work with a real estate client because of the new restrictions.

Marketing departments and ad agencies have also started training their staff on what to avoid with the new laws.

Internet service providers which carry advertisements that breach the law will come under fire, as well.

Naturally, some companies are using the new law as ammunition. The second day the law was in effect, Chinese phone company Beidou's Chief Executive Tan Wensheng took out a complaint with the Beijing Industry and Commerce Bureau against competitor Xiaomi, saying the latter's marketing collateral proclaimed its Note device was the "king" of devices and "best in the world."

Tan confirmed this on his verified Weibo account:

Image: Weibo Tan Wensheng

Daniel Jung, digital media lawyer at Olswang Asia, told Mashable that it isn't clear how foreign firms not physically based in China will be penalised.

It's likely that they'll see their ads blocked, rather than have fines placed on them directly, he said.

Other countries have existing guidelines on what is known as "puffery," or exaggeration in advertising, but none quite as singularly focused on the use of hyperbole per se.

Singapore's Ministry of Education has a code of guidelines that prevents educators from using superlatives such as "100% student satisfaction" — if those can't be substantiated.

In the U.S., Red Bull paid over US$13 million to consumers in a class action suit that found its drinks did not improve concentration or reaction speeds, as it claims.

Men can't be the face of sanitary napkins anymore

China's new laws have also been expanded with details on spokespeople, and might put the brakes on some lucrative celebrity endorsements.

It says celebrity spokespeople will bear the responsibility of ensuring the products and services they shill are the real deal. Endorsements found to be false will result in a fine, and the celebrity barred from taking on other endorsement deals for three years.

This means men can't endorse feminine hygiene products anymore, for example. Sorry, Jiro Wang.

Jiro Wang in an ad for a Chinese brand of sanitary napkins.

The law also prohibits children under the age of 10 from representing products from now. We assume babies are still allowed appear in diaper ads, since they can't speak about the product yet.