BEIJING -- A skin cream commercial starring rising Chinese starlet Tang Wei has been canned because of official displeasure at her role in Ang Lee's "Lust, Caution," local media reported.
Mainland media said the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (Sarft) saw red over the film, in which Tang got her big break, because it glorifies traitors.
Sarft has sent a memo to pubcasters and newspapers telling them to pull the ad for Pond's products.
There was media frenzy when Tang signed up to endorse the products for a hefty 6 million yuan ($835,632) fee last month.
China's decision to allow "Lust, Caution" to screen is one of the great mysteries in the country's murky censorship history.
Its political credentials are superficially on-message, as they deal with the lengths the Chinese went to when it came to getting rid of collaborators during World War Two, or the Anti-Japanese War as it is known in China.
But the pic's message is ambiguous because of Tony Leung's strong performance as a Chinese collaborator with the Japanese.
Coupled with the film's prolonged sex scenes, it seemed unlikely the pic would ever get past the Film Bureau gate, let alone into Chinese cinemas, despite a seven-minute cut.
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