Product Placement and the Law

Abstract

Consumer activists who propose regulations either banning certain product placements or requiring their affirmative disclosure in motion picture closing credits generally assert that such regulations would not violate the First Amendment because product placements are commercial speech, which receive far less constitutional protection than core political speech. This essay reviews the evolution of the Supreme Court's commercial speech doctrine and concludes that product placements would likely not be considered commercial speech at all; moreover, the essay argues, even if they were found to be commercial speech, the Court's evolving doctrine would likely protect the placements from regulation.