ABSTRACT
A comparison between the United Kingdom and France shows a broadly constant pattern of expenditure by advertisers on the different media through the 1990s. Before 1993, French advertising agencies were traditionally paid a commission based on a percentage of what the advertiser paid to the media for space or time. It was therefore in the interest of the agency that the price should be high; and as the price was negotiated between the agency and the media, the advertiser might not even know how much was being paid. France is particularly strict in controlling advertising on the grounds of health. Tobacco advertising was banned from television and from the other main media by the so-called Loi Veil as early as 1976; alcoholic drinks were blacklisted from television and from publications aimed at young people in 1987.
