WSJ Asks: Isn’t Advertising Covered By The First Amendment?

The Wall Street Journal sees a threat to free speech, and an attempted Federal Trade Commission “power grab”, in a lawsuit now at the federal appellate level that seeks to restrict the advertising claims of a pomegranate juice manufacturer and, by extension, other food and beverage companies. The makers of Pom Wonderful allegedly overstepped the boundaries of truthful advertising when they said the juice would help consumers “cheat death”. The Journal says the FTC seeks to create a burdensome hurdle – findings from at least two clinical trials – for food companies to make health claims for a product.