China is the nation-state equivalent of what my friends call "The Mixed Message Guy." You what I'm talking about -- he's the man who makes you think he's totally interested only to disappear off the face of the earth a week later.

Not that this has ever happened to me before, but I digress...

The latest "Mixed Message Guy" clash between China's Communist government and its free-market private sector involves something we here in the west know and love: the push-up bra.

Believe it or not, a month before the upcoming Communist Party meeting in Beijing, the government has announced a ban on "saucy" ads for push-up bras and "figure-hugging underpants."

The unmentionables crackdown comes just days after the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television put the kibosh on "sexually provocative sounds" and sex toy ads featuring prominent celebrities. (What?!? Why don't we have these in the U.S.? After all, Jessica Simpson, would put her stamp of approval on just about anything that comes with royalties.)

While the advertising ban is likely a blow to the underwear industry, China's decision nonetheless perfectly illustrates a point that America has been trying to make for the last sixty years: Capitalism is way sexier than Communism!

[via Reuters]