China fines a company over a Dove chocolate "situationship" ad

Chinese authorities have fined a company the equivalent of about $120,000 over an advertisement it created for American chocolate brand Dove that featured a woman in a "situationship," saying on Thursday it promoted the "wrong views on marriage and relationships." The video, first posted online in August, showed a woman getting chocolates from a man with whom she was in a "situationship" after her boyfriend ignored her. The clip caused a stir online in China, with some social media users saying it promoted infidelity, prompting Dove to issue an apology. Zongzheng Food — the company that created the ad and that operates a Dove store on Chinese e-commerce platform Kuaishou — was fined 800,000 yuan ($120,000) last month, Shanghai authorities said on Thursday. The ad "packaged being unfaithful in a relationship as a 'sweet experience,' promoting wrong views on marriage and relationships and violating good social customs," the Shanghai Municipal Market Supervision Administration said in a statement. China is facing a demographic crisis after its birth rate halved over the past decade, and in response authorities have heavily promoted traditional family structures. Marriage registrations from January to September were down 9.8% year-over-year, reaching just 4.6 million, data from China's civil affairs ministry showed last week. Dove, which is owned by McLean, Virginia-based Mars Inc., said in its apology in August…