Spiral of silence sets the stage for fleecing a gullible audience

Patients wait in line for the registration windows to open at the Beijing Stomatological Hospital on Wednesday. The windows open at 7 am to sell tickets for treatment, and it is a common practice for people to use stools or other objects to reserve a place in the line.[Photos by Zou Hong / China Daily]

A CELEBRITY "DOCTOR", who promotes "medicinal products" in TV advertisements by claiming they are able to cure many chronic diseases, has been exposed by People's Daily as being a performer rather than a medical professional. Ifeng.com comments:

Wearing a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles and speaking in a pretentiously convincing manner, the woman, in her late 60s, has nothing to prove her identity and expertise.

In her commercials, she belongs to at least three ethnic groups－Han, Mongolian and Miao－and describes herself as an expert from more than four prestigious medical research institutes and societies.

The target audience of senior citizens and poorer residents living in remote and less-developed areas lap up what she says as true. Because all the TV stations broadcasting the commercials are owned by the government, they take it for granted that the claims made in the advertisements are truthful.

The advertisers have exploited senior citizens' gullibility and their lack of media literacy to make money.

None of the TV stations, which make huge revenues from such advertising, have ever conducted any investigations before giving a green light to these advertisements, that exaggerate the curative effects of the "medicines" they promote.

And even though these products cannot cure their diseases, they may not make them worse or cause any negative side effects (edible starch is the main raw ingredient), so few consumers complain.

Worse, none of the institutes and societies the woman said she belongs to have taken the trouble to contradict her claims.

The spiral of silence, based on the indifference of related institutes, the dereliction of duty by the media broadcasters and a gullible audience, sets the stage for such advertisements to continue undisturbed.