<P> Tobacco advertising on radio, television and billboards is illegal . In July 2009, in - store tobacco advertising and displays of tobacco were made illegal--Ireland being the first country in the EU (and third in the world, after Canada and Iceland) to do so . Ireland plans to adopt the Australian model of plain - packaged cigarettes which is due to begin in September 2017 . </P> <P> The relevant EU directives banning tobacco advertising apply within the United Kingdom, in addition to UK laws restricting tobacco advertising . </P> <P> The first calls to restrict advertising came in 1962 from the Royal College of Physicians, who highlighted the health problems and recommended stricter laws on the sale and advertising of tobacco products . In 1971, an agreement between the government and the tobacco industry saw the inclusion of health warnings on all cigarette packets . All television commercials for cigarettes were banned on 1 August 1965, although commercials for loose tobacco and cigars continued until 1991 . </P> <P> Non-television advertising campaigns were still allowed in the UK but came under stricter guidelines in 1986, which in particular, prevented adverts from actually showing a person smoking . The tobacco producers responded with increasingly indirect and abstract campaigns, among which those of Benson & Hedges and Silk Cut became particularly recognisable . Until about the mid-1990s many corner shops, newsagents and off licences had on their shop signs prominent branding by cigarette brands such as Benson & Hedges, Silk Cut, Regal etc. until the practice was outlawed . </P>

When was smoking advertising banned in the uk