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By the 1990s, the duration of commercial breaks increased to 19 minutes and
celebrities were recruited to advertise products on TV. The television ad market

experienced another dramatic change with the foray of cable television. This trend

gave access to smaller companies to TV commercials, which were until then
reserved mainly for larger advertisers. The late 1990s saw the launch of TiVo - an

electronic TV programming schedule - which enabled viewers to skip the advert slot.
In Europe, the European Union (EU), legislation restricts commercial time to 12

minutes per hour. Regulatory issues relating to TV ads remain the subject of heated

debates in society.

Controversial advertising touches upon different sensitive issues such as
religion, culture or sex. Commercials of condoms, deodorants and perfumes often

seek to provoke the viewers. The United States imposed a ban on tobacco
advertisements on TV and radio in 1971. In the European Union, however, tobacco

ads were banned in 1991 with the adoption of the Television Without Frontiers

Directive. The promotion of alcoholic beverages is also highly regulated. Swedish
law, for example, forbids the advertising of alcohol.

The disadvantages of TV advertisements include their high costs,

time-consuming production and short life cycle. Furthermore, viewers can more

easily confuse slogans or forget the message of the advertisement due to the large
amount of commercials broadcast.

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