Recently, a number of netizens posted on social platforms that they found in many stores selling children's cheongsams on Taobao that the cheongsams worn by many child models were too high and were suspected of rubbing the edges.
Picture/Network screenshot
Picture/Network screenshot
A blogger posted that as a mother with a daughter, she felt very uncomfortable seeing these photos and asked "Is this a picture that the merchant should put on"? Some bloggers also questioned the photographer's intention in taking this kind of photo, believing that it was a "naked bad inducement". The reporter saw that in these pictures, the child model was wearing a cheongsam, but the cheongsam was split to the buttocks, and the children's buttocks could be faintly seen.
Picture/Taobao screenshot
Picture/Taobao screenshot
On May 15, a reporter from Jingshi Live contacted one of the bloggers, Ms. Wu. Ms. Wu told reporters that she searched on Taobao and found that many shops selling children's cheongsams had pictures of child models deliberately showing their buttocks when wearing cheongsam. "The cheongsam is a traditional Chinese costume, and these photos showing the details of the children's cheongsam are all split to the buttocks, or to the root of the outer thighs." As a mother, Ms. Wu believes that such picture displays can have a detrimental effect on children. Ms. Wu said that she had reported the stores together with netizens.
Picture/Network screenshot
Picture/Network screenshot
The reporter searched and found that several Taobao stores reported by bloggers have removed the controversial pictures from the shelves.
When the reporter asked one of the flagship stores called "Goody Cotton" whether the controversial pictures were related to the feedback from netizens, the store did not respond positively to the matter.
Picture/Network screenshot
Merchants publish these pictures, will Taobao review them? On May 14, the reporter contacted the customer service of Taobao merchants. The customer service said that when merchants upload pictures, Taobao generally will not directly review them, but will check them regularly, and will require them to be removed from the shelves or rectified when they find unqualified content.
In 2020, the Taobao platform issued the "Announcement on Cracking Down on Online "Paid Deletion of Posts" and "Soft Pornography". According to the announcement, in response to "soft pornography" information, the platform will further strengthen technical interception strategies, increase personnel review and online inspections, and focus on cracking down on various business entities on the platform that rely on "sexual innuendo" and "sexual provocation" to attract attention and earn traffic.
In response to the "excessively high slit of the children's cheongsam model", Li Jingxin, a lawyer at Hubei Chisheng Law Firm, said that according to Article 10 of the Advertising Law, advertisements shall not harm the physical and mental health of minors and persons with disabilities. "When taking pictures of minors, photographers should obtain the consent of their guardians, and even if the guardians agree to take pictures, these edged pictures are suspected of child molestation." Mr. Li believes that both the person who took the image, the user, and the platform administrator have a responsibility to protect minors.