Commercial Speech

Commercial speech in simple terms can be defined as an advertisement intended to sell a product or service. However, in legal terms, what constitutes commercial speech is still unclear, and several[Page 347] definitions of commercial speech have been used in court rulings. It is also important to consider commercial speech in the larger context of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech. Still, what constitutes speech and whether all speech should be treated equally has been a subject of many legal debates. Through several landmark court cases in the United States, it is clear that all speech is not treated equally and that there is a different level of protection afforded to different types of speech. Over the years, the ...