Brandishing the First Amendment
Subtitle: commercial expression in America
By: Tamara R. Piety
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Ann Arbor
Language: eng
Number of pages: 328
ISBN-13: 9780472117925; 9780472027729
Subjects: Freedom of speech; Corporate speech; Advertising law
Description: Over the past two decades, corporations and other commercial entities have used strategic litigation to win more expansive First Amendment protections for commercial speech, from the regulation of advertising to the role corporate interests play in the political process, most recently debated in the Supreme Court case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Piety argues that such an expansion of First Amendment speech rights imperils public health, safety, and welfare; the reliability of commercial and consumer information; the stability of financial markets; and the global environment. Beginning with an evaluation of commonly evoked philosophical justifications for freedom of expression, she determines that, while these are appropriate for the protection of an individual's rights, they should not be applied too literally to commercial expression because the corporate person is not the moral equivalent of the human person. Piety gathers evidence from public relations and marketing, behavioral economics, psychology, and cognitive studies to show how overly permissive extensions of First Amendment protections to commercial expression limit governmental power to address some of the major social, economic, and environmental challenges of our time. From publisher description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Commercial and corporate speech; title: The scope of commercial expression; title: Why protect speech? : four fundamental interests; title: Autonomy as a human interest; title: Brands, information, and consumer "education"; title: Advertising and manipulation; title: Tough love paternalism; title: The corporate person; title: Commercial democracy; title: Commercial expression and economic instability; title: Commercial expression and environmental instability.