ABSTRACT
The legal challenges faced by advertising and public relations practitioners are distinctly different than those confronted by journalists and other communicators. Courts have accepted the general premise that speech that is primarily designed to further the economic interests of the speaker may be subject to greater government regulation than fully protected “political speech.” This chapter looks at the development of the First Amendment body of law focusing on what courts typically refer to as “commercial speech.” It traces the evolution of the commercial speech doctrine through a series of cases in which the Supreme Court considered the role of commercial expression in public discourse. It concludes with an overview of the Central Hudson test and its application in major commercial speech-related challenges.
