Advertising was imported to China in the late 1970's, when the country made the first steps in its opening up process. Overseas advertisements stunned many Chinese at the time and raised social debates. Let's look at some old, but important TV ads from three decades ago.

March 1979, Shanghai Television broadcast the very first foreign brand ad on Chinese TV, Rado watch. In fact, Rado was not even available on the Chinese mainland. The ad was trying to raise interest in the watch and pave its path to the Chinese market.

That did not create much trouble for Shanghai Television but later, a Coca-cola ad, and a jeans ad, were banned by the authority from China Central Television.

Zhao Ze, Advertising Expert of China Renmin University said "Critics at that time argued only very limited people could get Coca-cola so there's no need to advertise. It also created a big competitor for Chinese drinks. So its ad was banned. In terms of Jeans, they said it represents the life style of capitalism, how could TV broadcast the ad?"

As China opened up, western lifestyle was gradually accepted and foreign adverting faced less obstacles. In fact, innovation, design and the quality of foreign ads inspired Chinese advertisers to create and improve their own work. The Chinese advertising industry has developed rapidly.

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