There have been growing efforts to defend the public interest by the means of regulating the content and the influence of advertising. Some cases in point are: the ban on television tobacco advertising imposed in a number of countries, and the total ban of advertising for children under the age of twelve imposed by the Swedish government in the 1990s. Though that control continues in effect for broadcasts originating within the country, it has been diminished by the European Court of Justice, that had found that Sweden was obliged to accept outside programming, including those from bordering countries or via satellite.

The effect of advertising has been a subject of substantial debate and numerous claims have been made in numerous contexts. While the debates about the banning of cigarette advertising, a general claim from cigarette producers was that cigarette advertising does not persuade people to smoke who would not anyway. The opponents of advertising, on the contrary, demand that advertising does really increase consumption.

In relation to many sources, the past practice and state of mind of the person subjected to advertising may establish the impact that advertising has.

Influence, cigarette advertising