"Reel of Shame" is a desperate attempt to recover money from people who have failed to pay off debts
Imagine walking into a movie theatre in your city and seeing your name and face flashing across the screen - not for the right reasons. Sounds like a nightmare, right? A county in China is using precisely that extreme method in an attempt to recover money from those who have failed to pay off their debts.
An initiative called "Reel of Shame" has been started in China's Heijang county on the order of local courts in a desperate attempt to recover money from people who have failed to pay off debts in legal cases.
Under the initiative, movie halls have been playing short clips featuring an animated character which says, "Come look at these laolai", a Chinese term deriding those who fail to pay back.
The People's Court of Hejiang County posted a video of one such clip playing in a movie hall on their Weibo account.
According to Daily Mail, names and faces of 26 defaulters are being in shown in one such cinema in the county as part of pre-movie trailers. The local theatre has over 30 movie screenings per day.
"Public shaming has been an increasingly common tactic to punish laolai... along with other repercussions for failing to repay loans, including blacklisting and travel restrictions," Li Qiang, director of enforcement for Hejiang's courts was quoted as saying.
He also said that the defaulters' information was specifically being displayed in the area where they belonged to for "more effective results".
Names and faces of offenders have also been put up on buses and outdoor electronic screens.
No word yet on exactly how much money creditors have been able to recover.
An initiative called "Reel of Shame" has been started in China's Heijang county on the order of local courts in a desperate attempt to recover money from people who have failed to pay off debts in legal cases.
Under the initiative, movie halls have been playing short clips featuring an animated character which says, "Come look at these laolai", a Chinese term deriding those who fail to pay back.
The People's Court of Hejiang County posted a video of one such clip playing in a movie hall on their Weibo account.
According to Daily Mail, names and faces of 26 defaulters are being in shown in one such cinema in the county as part of pre-movie trailers. The local theatre has over 30 movie screenings per day.
"Public shaming has been an increasingly common tactic to punish laolai... along with other repercussions for failing to repay loans, including blacklisting and travel restrictions," Li Qiang, director of enforcement for Hejiang's courts was quoted as saying.
He also said that the defaulters' information was specifically being displayed in the area where they belonged to for "more effective results".
Names and faces of offenders have also been put up on buses and outdoor electronic screens.
No word yet on exactly how much money creditors have been able to recover.
