The Chinese government would fine binge-eating influencers with four million forints

Punishment for excessive eating

In China, influencers who showcase the mukbang trend in their videos are gaining great popularity – the trend started in South Korea 10 years ago and its purpose is for people to watch unknown influencers eat massive amounts of food. In many of these videos, there is no speech or commentary, just the visual aspect matters. However, there is another trend in eating videos that features extremely thin influencers who consume disproportionately large quantities of food – for example, 10 plates of spicy noodles, 15 hamburgers, or in one specific case, 17 kilograms of roasted lamb.

The Chinese ruling party would fine influencers who promote excessive eating in their videos with four and a half million forints. The proposed law would ban such content and also prohibit live eating shows and eating competitions.

Clean Plate Campaign

Estimates suggest that 20 percent of food ordered in restaurants ends up in the trash. This means that millions of tons of food are wasted in China annually, while food supply is a serious problem in the country's less developed regions.

In mid-January 2020, Chinese internet users launched an initiative against waste on Sina Weibo, which has more than 420 million registered users, which can also be interpreted as criticism of binge-eating influencers. The "Clean Plate" campaign targets food waste and responds to an initiative by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Social media users were encouraged to share photos or videos of their empty plates on Weibo, a Twitter-like popular social media platform, where fighting food waste is now one of the most trending topics.

As a result of the "Clean Plate" campaign, more than 13 million posts have been created on the social platform on the topic, with microbloggers uploading hundreds of photos of their empty plates after meals. By August 14, the "Clean Plate" campaign with the Chinese-language #GuangPanXingDong hashtag generated approximately 870 thousand comments and 550 million views on the social media platform.

In addition to the "Clean Plate" campaign, the Chinese hospitality industry has also taken a stand – offering smaller portions, half portions, and free containers for takeaway, which allow customers to order food according to their needs and encourage the development of economical habits.

Image source: Freepik

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