Howell International Trade Fair Limited, the organizer of the annual ChinaJoy exhibition, announced on Tuesday that they are going to charge modeling agencies whose models are showing too much flesh on the upcoming event.
According to the company, the agencies will have to pay 10,000 yuan ($1,600) for each violation.
In the previous shows, the reputation of the firm has been tainted due to the attire of models which received disapproval from the media.
As some people see the show to be more directed on the models rather than the event itself, the organizer decided to file charges against offenders as a way to express their negative feedback on the obscenity.
Female models who show more than 2 centimeters of their cleavage, buttocks or waistband will be fined 5,000 yuan ($806), while men who wear underwear that reveals their "Apollo’s belt” will also be charged by the same amount.
Howell International told Shanghai Daily that agencies with models who “inappropriately or too intimately” pose with fans will be also penalized with 10,000 yuan, adding that it has assigned the New Silk Road Modeling Agency to carry out the guidelines.
Tian Lu, the general manager of Forme Advertising Agency based in Shanghai, said that the new guidelines indicate that exhibit organizers are changing their views on the business.
“Exhibitors love having sexy models on their stands because they attract the bigger crowds. But in recent years, organizers have taken a harder line, as the media have become more interested in the models than the shows,” Tiu added.
According to reports, models were iced out at the recently held Auto China exhibition. The move was recorded to be the first time in the exhibit's history.
“The showgirls steal much of the show. I don’t want to attend a public event that is all about groups of lads drooling over girls,” said an event watcher as quoted by Shanghai Daily, adding that the last time he attended the show was in 2007.
ChinaJoy, also known as the China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference, is considered to be one of the biggest shows in the country about the digital and computer industry.
Launched in 2002, the event aims to strengthen domestic game supervision, actively regulate the markets of electronics and Internet publications, rigorously fight against piracy in order to encourage and support legal game products, and establish a platform for the comprehensive development of Chinese electronics products.
This year, the event will run from July 30 to Aug. 3 at the Shanghai New International Expo Center.