If a company runs a TV commercial or magazine ad with the slightest hint of untruth (that can be proven, of course), then that company gets hit with a fine and the ad is pulled. The Federal Trade Commission required four diet-pill makers to pull their ads that included false claims in 2007, and fined them all for a total of $25 million.
Kentucky Fried Chicken tried to claim that eating their fried chicken could be part of an “effective diet program” in 2004, and they also got a fine, along with the punishment of having to submit all advertising to the FTC for the next five years for review before publishing.
And yet, Obama and McCain can run ads that obviously twist the words of others and selectively pull out parts of bills that the senator once voted for or against. No fines, no barring of the ads. Why? Because KFC and diet-pill makers don’t have the First Amendment on their side.
“It’s perfectly legal for candidates to lie to voters in commercials or other advertising,” states a Time magazine article.
That’s right – the “truth in advertising” standard doesn’t apply to all advertising. Political advertising is exempt because their ads and statements are considered to be “political speech,” which is protected under the First Amendment. It’s a good idea in theory: voters should have a right to uncensored information so that they can base their decisions on both candidate’s truthful past and actions. Of course, we all know that the system is distorted and that’s not what has come from this First Amendment loophole.
Another weird thing is that under the Federal Communications Act, broadcasters have to run these ads, even the ones that they know are false. A station can enforce a blanket policy of not running any ads from political candidates, but they can’t single out one candidate or even one ad. If they run one political ad, they have to run them all, no matter how filled with lies.
The thing is, is that the candidates know they can lie, they know journalists will dig to find the truth, and then their lie will be exposed. But they also know that the original false ad, the one with the lie, is what will stick in voters’ minds. People remember the outlandish lie more easily than they remember the truth that came out afterwards. Consumers can even fact check the lies out themselves at Web sites like Factcheck.org and Politifact.com.
Unfortunately, the lies will just keep coming because they work, and they’ve always worked. Even back in Lincoln’s time, someone was slandering him when it came time to vote. But look on the bright side – at least we don’t have much longer to listen to these ugly untruths!
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