Advertising Self-regulation. Digital advertising. International, national and comparative aspects

About fifty years ago, companies in certain sectors began adopting self-regulation, creating and monitoring their own rules to complement or replace state legislation. In some cases, this occurred with government participation, characterizing co-regulation. This model was widely used by the advertising industry, initially traditional (offline) and, more recently, digital. Driven by technological advances, advertising evolved into a hybrid model, combining features of both traditional and digital platforms. This transformation was influenced by several factors: (i) the United States was a pioneering force, both in traditional and digital advertising; (ii) intergovernmental international organizations like the UN, UNCTAD, OECD, and EU became interested in regulating the topic; (iii) private organizations like the ICC and metaregulators such as EASA and ICAS also contributed; and (iv) specific organizations for digital advertising, such as DAA, EDAA, IAB, TAG, and W3C, emerged. This evolution turned advertising into a global phenomenon, expanding its scope to the point where the term "advertising" seemed insufficient, being replaced by "commercial communication." This process generated numerous documents, treaties, and laws, forming the sources of advertising law. Analyzing these sources enabled: (i) a comprehensive view of advertising law, (ii) an evaluation of the importance of each source, and (iii) the outline of a near-general theory on the subject. The thesis organizes its foundations through three perspectives: (i) international, due to the relevance of globalization in the sector; (ii) national, focusing on examples like the USA, Italy, and Brazil; and (iii) comparative, substituting scientific experimentation with humanities-based methods such as descriptive, exploratory, historical, and dialectical analysis. Finally, it seeks to identify potential future sources of advertising law, consolidating a scientific vision of the topic. This is the summary of the thesis.