Advertising regulation in China is absolutely dominated by government. Long-existing,
widespread and serious illegal advertising indicates government failure in this field. One of the most
important reasons for this failure lies in authorities’ pursuing self-interest. Based on the Public Choice
Theory, this paper explores the three features of advertising law-enforcement in China: campaign-style
regulation, selective enforcement of law, and enforcement to facilitate administration, and proves that
the governmental self-interest without effective power-control mechanism is the deep-rooted cause of
government failure in advertising regulation. In the end, it proposes to develop civil-oriented system of
advertising governance.