Company faces fine over 'racy' ad

The laundry company that organized a brand promotion by paying young women to remove their clothing on a Metro train will be fined for disrupting public order, according to police.

Shanghai-based Tidy Laundry Co apologized on its website for the stunt on Saturday, admitting it filmed an advertisement on a subway train last week and posting it on the Internet, which generated controversy.

In the video two young women started removing their clothes on a crowded Metro train. When they were down to their underwear, a man in the laundry company's uniform boarded the train, bundled up their clothes and made one of them write something in his notebook.

The company said the video was made on a Metro Line 2 train last Wednesday. It added that everyone who appeared in the video, including train passengers and a middle-aged woman who stepped up to stop the women from stripping, were all paid actors and actresses.

Metro police approached the company last Friday and said yesterday Tidy Laundry would be fined for disturbing public order. They refused to reveal the fine's amount.

Police added that any organization planning to make an advertising video on the city's Metro network needs their approval and that of Metro operator Shanghai Shentong Group.

Police also said they are working with the industrial and commercial authority to determine whether the company broke the advertising law. A clause in the law states that an advert can not cause a bad influence on society.

Tidy Laundry was registered in Shanghai last year. According to its apology, they made the video to promote their "service on call" concept in an "exaggerated way." After the negative response from the public, the company admitted the advert was a "mistake."

Liu Taibao, a talent agent, told thepaper.cn the video's producer was looking to hire 20 women to strip down to their underwear on Metro trains to make the advertisement. Each was promised 1,500 yuan (US$244.82) to 2,500 yuan.

Liu claimed the producer was his friend and the video was shot early when only a few passengers were on board the train. They hired extras to make it look crowded.