Why Corporate 'Negative Speech Rights' Is as Dangerous as Corporate Free Speech

By Simon Davis-Cohen

June 18, 2014 | We all know about political free speech. With a few exceptions, you can say what you want, whether people listen or not. But corporations have twisted the First Amendment to claim that their free speech rights as “people” also means that they cannot be forced by government to put warning labels on their packaging. An established and growing body of law elevates private marketing above public health warnings.

It's called corporate negative free speech rights, and it falls under one particular area of First Amendment law—commercial speech. It's been wielded in a variety of for-profit settings. Cigarette companies have used this rationale to avoid photos on warning labels. The dairy industry has evoked it to hide the use of manmade bovine growth hormones in milk production. Cell phone companies have cited it to block radiation warnings on their packaging.