The National Radio and Television Administration recently issued a notice asking all television and radio stations and online video and live-streaming platforms to discontinue advertisements for plastic surgery loans.

Some agencies offer loans to customers wanting cosmetic surgery, which is not something people on an average income can afford. Such offers are often a ploy to mislead and exploit customers.

On Crime Crackdown, a popular TV series whose episodes are based on real events, some racketeers are shown luring young women into applying for such a loan and forcing them to offer sexual favors if they fail to repay the amount.

According to the China Consumers Association, of the 16,459 cosmetic- or plastic surgery-related complaints it received in the first half of 2021, a large number were about loan frauds.

Some of the borrowers were made to believe they were applying for zero-interest loans when actually the rate of interest was as high as 30 percent.
The harm caused by such loans cannot be estimated. Many gullible young people, some of them students, fall for this trap because they are obsessed with looking "good".

Also, some of the "loan agencies" do not have any qualified surgeons to perform plastic surgery, which makes the surgeries risky, and could leave a person disfigured for the rest of his or her life.

Directing platforms not to carry such advertisements is the first step toward curbing this menace, especially because when State-owned TV channels telecast such ads, it gives people the false impression that the government supports such surgeries.

Once the ads go off air, the next step should be to regulate the sector. In fact, the government has already started the process.

In May, the National Health Commission, along with seven ministries, issued a guiding document that led to a crackdown on the loan sharks.

And in June, the National Internet Finance Association of China asked financial institutions not to cooperate with agencies offering plastic surgeries.

- THEPAPER.CN