Chinese woman sues movie theatre for showing commercials

A Chinese woman is suing a cinema and film distributor in the city of Xian on the grounds that the companies failed to warn her that she would be forced to watch 20 minutes of pre-movie advertisements. Chen Xiaomei, a lawyer herself, says her freedom of choice was violated by the ads that preceded Aftershock, a popular Chinese film about a 1976 earthquake. Xiaomei is seeking compensation of 35-yuan ($5.20) to cover the ticket price, 1 yuan (15 cents) for her emotional damage and a written apology. She is also lobbying to have commercials limited to a maximum of five minutes and for cinemas to be required to publish the actual times that the opening credits roll.

Vancouver Sun