From midnight on Thursday cigarette companies aren't allowed to push their product in newspapers, magazines or on posters on the side of the road.
Fact File
Fag facts
450 kids start smoking every day
120,000 smoking-related deaths every year
Smoking kills 1,000 non-smokers every year
1.6m people saw a tobacco advert on every day last year
The government reckons the ban will save around 3,000 lives a year, as well as stopping lots of kids from starting the habit.
The health secretary Alan Milburn said: "Adverts have sought to get more people to smoke by conveying the idea that smoking is glamorous when in fact it is dangerous.
"They have tried to get more people to smoke by pretending it enhances quality of life when in fact it serves to shorten people's lives."
Bans on other types of advertising will start on 14 May, while sporting events like the British Grand Prix will have to get their money from somewhere else from 2006.
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