[12] Amid the controversy, and fearing the potential for government regulation akin to that of the Federal Communications Commission in the United States,[13] the AA created the committee in 1961, aiming to ensure that non-broadcast advertisements were "honest, decent, legal and truthful".

In 1988, the committee began to work more closely with the Office of Fair Trading, now part of the Competition and Markets Authority, following the passage of the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations of that year.

[15] In the mid-1990s, the committee deemed an advert for Brass Monkeys-branded underwear that "focused on the groin area" of a male model to be "unsuitable for public consumption".

[19][20] In February 2008, CAP banned adverts for products with high fat, salt and sugar content on programmes that are specifically targeted at children between the ages of four and fifteen.

[21] Similar restrictions were imposed by the committee in December 2016, when CAP announced it had extended the broadcast ban on banning junk food ads to digital media, stopping the advertising of "high fat, salt or sugar food or drink products" in media where more than 25% of the audience was under 16.

[26] In December 2018, the committee issued new guidelines effective 14 June 2019, prohibiting the usage of gender stereotypes "likely to cause harm, or serious or widespread offence" in advertising.