A screenshot of the TV show where a seat belt was digitally added to the footage

The Traffic Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security issued a reminder via its official Weibo on Monday, stressing the importance of fastening one's seat belt when riding in a vehicle, after several guests in a TV variety show were seen wearing digitally added seat belts. The news has surged to the top hot topics on Sina Weibo on Tuesday morning. 
 
The reminder came after netizens noticed that several guests on a variety show did not actually fasten their seat belts while riding in a vehicle. Instead, the production team of the show was found to have digitally added seat belts during post-production, with the edited images showing fairly obvious signs of manipulation, according to the Weibo post. 

Safety is not something that people can afford to deceive themselves about. China's Road Traffic Safety Law stipulates that "when a motor vehicle is in motion, both the driver and passengers shall use seat belts in accordance with regulations," the bureau said in the post. 
 
In the first episode of the show This Is My Journey to the West 2, released on May 29, some viewers noticed that the seat belts appeared to have been digitally added in post-production, with obvious signs of image manipulation and compositing, according to media reports. 
 
The footage revealed that the supposedly added seat belts were unnaturally rigid in shape and appeared unusually light in color. The edges where they connect to the actual seat-belt buckles on the seatbacks also appear blurred, standing in stark contrast to those of a properly fastened seat belt.

As of Tuesday morning, the production team has not issued a response to the controversy, according to the website of the Hunan Daily. 
 
Given the substantial number of fans and viewers they influence, celebrities and variety shows have a significant role-model effect. They should therefore set a positive example, particularly on matters concerning public interest and public safety, by strictly complying with laws and regulations and firmly upholding safety standards, said the post. 

Some viewers pointed out that in another TV show Keep Running, frame-by-frame analyses conducted by internet users also revealed obvious signs that the seat belts had been digitally added in post-production, news outlet Guancha.cn reported. 
 
A Beijing-based lawyer Yu Yue told Chengdu.cn that if drivers or passengers failed to properly wear seat belts during the filming of the program, such conduct would violate road traffic safety regulations. He said that digitally altering the footage in post-production to create the impression that "everyone was properly wearing a seat belt" constitutes a deliberate attempt to conceal the actual traffic violation.