SCHOOL OF GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK, NY, USA.
J Law Med Ethics. 2022;50(2):265-275. doi: 10.1017/jme.2022.51.
The First Amendment to the US Constitution protects commercial speech from government interference. Commercial speech has been defined by the US Supreme Court as speech that proposes a commercial transaction, such as marketing and labeling. Companies that produce products associated with public health harms, such as alcohol, tobacco, and food, thus have a constitutional right to market these products to consumers. This article will examine the evolution of US law related to the protection of commercial speech, often at the expense of public health. It will then identify outstanding questions related to the commercial speech doctrine and the few remaining avenues available in the United States to regulate commercial speech including the use of government speech and addressing deceptive and misleading commercial speech.
美国宪法第一修正案保护商业言论不受政府干预。美国最高法院将商业言论定义为提议商业交易的言论，例如营销和标签。生产与公共健康危害相关产品的公司，如酒精、烟草和食品，因此有权向消费者推销这些产品。本文将探讨美国法律在保护商业言论方面的演变，这往往是以牺牲公共健康为代价的。然后，它将确定与商业言论学说相关的悬而未决的问题，以及在美国管制商业言论的少数剩余途径，包括使用政府言论和解决欺骗性和误导性商业言论。
