Since the early 20th century, advertising has been a focus of concern for the consumer movement. As advertising itself has changed, it has raised new issues for consumer advocates. Both self‐regulation and external control have been utilized to deal with the consumer problems advertising has presented. With the rise of persuasive national advertising in the Progressive Era, advertising leaders launched a “Truth in Advertising” movement to establish their craft's credibility, but the industry's narrow concept of truth prevented it from dealing with some of the larger issues that advertising raised. State laws and the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accompanied this self‐regulation. In the 1920s and 1930s, a consumer movement attacked deceptive advertising, but internal reform was limited. A reinvigorated consumer movement, a more active FTC, and advertising based on market segmentation characterized the 1960s and 1970s, and advertising interests initiated new self‐regulatory procedures in 1971. More recently, deregulation has emerged as a rival method for promoting consumer well‐being. The broadened focus of consumerism suggests that advertising will continue to be a matter of concern for consume