New research by a free-market think tank in the UK warns that restrictions on advertising are expanding and impacting free speech in advertising. The wide-ranging restrictions by the regulators on advertising could result in pressure to apply the same on certain types of expression and imagery in the arts, entertainment, and politics, according to a report from the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) released last week. The report expresses concerns that regulators are attempting to reshape cultural and social attitudes to issues on gender, family, and ethnicity. Many of these regulations come from the UK’s independent organisation Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). Previously interested in “legal, honest, truthful” advertising, the ASA has “morphed into an expansive attempt to change the way in which people think,” the report says. Professor Len Shackleton, author of the report, spoke to NTD News about ASA’s rules. “So what my paper does is document some of …