BEIJING - China's leading stand-up comic Li Dan has been fined 870,000 yuan (S$181,000) on Tuesday (Aug 24) for an ad for women's underwear that was deemed vulgar.

Li, 31, had posted a video for Beijing-based lingerie company Ubras on his Weibo account on Feb 24, in which he called the underwear a "career lifejacket" and said it could help women easily conquer the workplace by just lying down.

Later that day, Li and Ubras pulled the ad.

He apologised on Weibo, saying "the promotion was indeed improper and I should have expected the impact it would have".

According to the official WeChat account of the Administration for Market Regulation in Beijing's Haidian district, the ad was discriminatory against working women, as well as "vulgar and insulting to women's dignity".

In addition, a report in Chinese newspaper Global Times on Wednesday (Aug 25) said his violation of China's advertising law included endorsing a product that he had not used himself.

Li is viewed as a pioneer of stand-up comedy in China, where it used to be a subculture until recent years.

He came to the public eye in 2017 when he co-produced Roast And Rock, a show to promote stand-up comedy, with Tencent Penguin Pictures.