The Scottish government has come out swinging against the alcohol industry calling for a pre-9pm TV ad ban and a restriction on cinema ads in under-18 films.
With Ofcom's UK-wide restrictions on advertising junk food to children on TV set to be reviewed later this year, there is the prospect that the TV industry could be facing being out of pocket more than £300m in ad revenue if all such bans were actually introduced.
The question is whether binge drinking and childhood obesity can be significantly alleviated by an advertising ban, and whether crippling the commercial TV industry is a cost worth paying?
Ofcom has called the idea of bans "disproportionate" and commercial broadcasters have argued that they will be crippled and UK-originated programming will suffer.
The drinks industry has also introduced its own measures, one being the removal of alcohol branding from children's replica sports shirts.
And at a summer drinks reception last week the Advertising Association hinted at an initiative that will see media owners, agencies, advertisers and the government work together on a joint campaign to tackle a range of health issues that would run until the London Olympics.
The industry seemed to be winning some political points with its efforts to prove it can self-regulate.
However, advertising is, it has to be said, an easy political target.
Just last week culture secretary Andy Burnham pretty much killed hopes of limited product placement being introduced even before a consultation, Health secretary Alan Johnson had a crack at a TV ban on junk food ads earlier this year, and Gordon Brown has even had summits at Downing Street with the alcohol companies over binge drinking.
A quick look at Europe reveals that Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies' proposals to introduce tobacco style warning messages on car advertising has gathered traction.
On such issues the industry does, of course, have to act responsibly.
But there is also the much thornier issue, one that is politically difficult to broach, and that is telling the UK public that actually a lot of the problem comes down to personal responsibility - particularly on the issue of binge drinking and obesity.
Health campaigners argue that while this is true ad bans would snuff out another source of influence, however small, and that must be a good thing.
But is the cost too high for UK TV?
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