Founded in 1974, it served as a centralized self-regulatory body for the country's advertising industry until its closure of operations in 2014.

It was established after a series of meetings in 1973 by major stakeholders of advertising industry in the Philippines.

The Adboard served as the advertising self-regulation body of the Philippines until 2008, when the Ad Standards Council took over the role.

[3] The organization underwent an unspecified internal crisis which led to the cancellation of its Advertising Congress scheduled to be hosted in Davao City in 2013 for the first time in its history.

It was guided by a Code of Ethics concepted by its member-organizations in consultation with the Bureau of Standards for Mass Media under the DPI in 1973.