Commercial Speech and the 1st Amendment - Explained
What is Commercial Speech?
Written by J. Mance Gordon
Updated at April 21st, 2024
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What is Commercial Speech?
Commercial speech is any speech related to a business entity, brand, practice, or product.
Commercial speech is only partially protected under the 1st Amendment from infringement by Government law or action.
How is Commercial Speech protected under the 1st Amendment?
There is only a limited right to undertake commercial speech. Such expressions necessarily involve third parties who take actions based upon that speech. The government's regulation of commercial speech is based upon the potentially negative effect on the general welfare of society. The limitation upon the regulation of commercial speech is that the government must have a compelling state interest to justify the restriction.
- Note: Common law holds that corporations have limited rights to free speech that are very similar to those of individuals. The Constitutional standards applied by a court when determining the validity of government laws or actions limiting an individual's rights are discussed in a separate section.
- Example: Business practices that knowingly deceive individuals may constitute fraud. Many deceptive advertising practices violate consumer protection laws. The federal and state governments require disclosure of material information about publicly-held companies. All of these examples demonstrate a balance between protecting the public and protecting the freedom of speech afforded individuals.
Related Concepts
- What is the 1st Amendment?
- What are the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause
- How does freedom of religion affect business practice?
- What is the protection of Freedom of Speech?
- Speech with Limited or No Protection
- What is Obscene Speech?
- What are Fighting Words?
- What is Defamation?
- What is Political Speech?
- Overbreadth and Overly Broad Laws
- Freedom of the Press
- Freedom of Assembly