ABSTRACT
Although the role of consumer bodies in the drawing up and implementing of television advertising control in Britain has already been described, the development of EU regulation in this area, which was to a significant extent consumer inspired, has not been dealt with in detail. The primary aim of advertising regulation is, of course, to protect the consumer, but consumer claims have to be weighed against the interests of the global nature of advertising industry. The two sets of interests should not, in any case, be fundamentally different. Advertisers are always quick to point out that both they and the buying public are moving in the same direction. Most consumers also recognise that in providing information, advertising is on the whole a good thing, and that it cannot do its job properly if it is burdened with so many restrictions that the message does not come across. But they are also aware that in having access to a uniquely powerful medium to carry their messages, television advertisers may be tempted to make the relationship exploitative rather than mutually beneficial.
