The article is devoted to the study of the problem field of advertising ethics. An attempt has been made to analyze the concept of “advertising ethics” on the basis of semantic analysis and semantic relations of the concepts of “ethics” and “advertising activity”. The article analyses the current system of regulation of advertising activity in the Russian Federation, consisting of state and legal regulation, as well as ethical regulation by self-regulating organizations. The article uses the following methods of research: method of observation; method of systematization and classification of material; methods of definitional and contextual analysis, etc. The empirical base of the study included 30 advertisements distributed in the territory of the Russian Federation. In the analysis of advertising appeals practical material was used from sites of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, service of legal aspects of advertising, self-regulatory body “Advertising Council” and others. The problems in the applied approaches in the implementation of advertising ethics have been identified. Attention is drawn to the necessity of detailed elaboration of the system of ethics of advertising activity: a code of professional ethics for all participants of the advertising market and recommendations for compliance with the legislation in terms of ethics both for consumers and competitors. It is concluded that an integrated approach (unification of the legal regime, state regulation, business and self-regulation of advertising activities) is used to achieve a positive synergistic effect in the advertising sphere.