NANJING - A Chinese official on Thursday said the country's advertising industry is still confronted with false and unlawful information even though it has grown into one of the world's biggest markets.

Industry and commerce departments investigated 42,000 cases of false and unlawful advertisements last year, Zhou Bohua, head of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), said at a meeting held in the city of Nanjing, capital of eastern Jiangsu province.

"Ads with false and illegal information keep stubbornly popping up despite our repeated law enforcement activities," Zhou said, vowing to continue the crackdown on advertising fraud, particularly for ads related to medical treatments, pharmaceuticals and food.

SAIC data showed that China's advertising industry reaped a combined business revenue of 312.5 billion yuan ($49.6 billion) in 2011.

More than 290,000 advertising companies are currently operating in China, and over 1.67 million advertising professionals work in the industry, according to the SAIC.