Associated Press

Beijing, January 10:

The family of a newborn baby who last week became the poster child for China’s one-child policy has turned down a number of lucrative advertising contracts for diapers and milk formula, state media said on Monday. Zhang Yichi was declared China’s 1.3 billionth citizen when he was born to a huge media blitz in a Beijing hospital on Thursday.

Since the birth, which was broadcast on state television, Zhang’s family has been approached by many companies looking to use his image in their ads, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing the Beijing Daily Messenger. “It’s lucky to be China’s 1.3 billionth citizen,” the boy’s father Zhang Tong was quoted as saying. “But it’s unnecessary to act as image representative for so many products, since Zhang Yichi is too young and too many commercial activities will have a negative impact on the boy’s healthy growth.” The family did, however, accept some insurance offered to the boy by an insurance company, Xinhua said.