Spain's left-wing government is moving to ban ads for gas-powered cars, short flights, and fossil fuels, the latest salvo in a decades-long effort on the part of leftist European governments to crack down on industries that don't align with their political ideology.
Now some in Washington including progressive leader of "The Squad," Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and socialist stalwart Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., want to follow their lead by banning prescription drug ads.
It's the same playbook: silence entire industries under the guise of public health or consumer protection to advance a politically-motivated agenda.
Let’s be honest: pharmaceutical ads are annoying.
Most of us reach for the mute button when they come on.
But these ads serve a vital purpose that policymakers like Rep. Omar and Sen. Sanders don't want to acknowledge: they raise awareness around new, cutting-edge treatments.
Additionally, they prompt people to visit doctors for conditions they might otherwise ignore, leading to earlier treatment and better outcomes.
And they equip patients to ask the right questions and be their own advocate.
Most importantly, they ensure the government doesn't get between patients and their doctors by blocking the free flow of information.
This is exactly how the free market should work: companies providing information and individuals making informed choices, without bureaucrat censors getting in the way. For those of us who value free speech and free markets, what’s happening in Spain should set off alarm bells.
The Spanish legislation aims to curtail "fear-based" marketing and limit exposure to ads the government deems unacceptable.
While it’s being sold as consumer protection, it's about political control over what companies can say, what the public can hear, what choices consumers have, and what industries are even allowed to exist.
Ultimately, that lays the groundwork to dictate all aspects of people’s daily lives.
The left wing in Spain, for example, has regulated much more than "just" speech and information. They've instituted rent controls and, even more incredibly, regulated air conditioning in the summer (at a maximum of 81F) and heating in the winter (at a maximum of 66F) for offices, stores, and hospitality.
Democrats here in the U.S. are eager to follow suit and turn America into a European-inspired, Zohran Mamdani-style socialist dystopia.
They tried to regulate fossil fuels out of existence in favor of Green New Deal schemes that would have left Americans in the dark. They colluded with Big Tech and the mainstream media to squash stories that hurt their political candidates.
They fanned the flames of cancel culture that put people's lives and livelihoods at risk if they dared to question the ESG, DEI, and CSR alphabet soup orthodoxy.
Their entire agenda hinges on chipping away at our fundamental freedoms.
And now the pharmaceutical industry and its DTC ads are in their sights.
One problem?
The First Amendment doesn't just protect political speech; it protects commercial speech too. The U.S. Supreme Court has been crystal clear: the government can't "suppress the dissemination of concededly truthful information about entirely lawful activity" simply because officials are "fearful of that information's effect."
And direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical ads are already heavily regulated by the FDA.
The agency maintains that drug ads must be accurate, present balanced views of benefits and risks, and clearly disclose side effects.
These regulations appropriately balance consumer protection with the benefits of providing Americans information they can use to take control of their health.
Americans pay for health insurance to get the best treatment available, and they deserve to know what their options are.
The danger of a proposed ban on drug ads is two-fold.
Not only would patients lose the opportunity to make more informed healthcare decisions, but it would also create a slippery slope that hands the federal government power to silence any industry that doesn't toe the party line, just like we're seeing in Spain.
Today it might be pharmaceutical companies.
Tomorrow, if Democrats were to regain power, they'll use the same precedent to silence any business that doesn't align with their political aims.
We cannot normalize a system where the government decides what's "safe" to say and hear, especially about healthcare.
This isn't about the merits of any single commercial; it's about preserving a system where patients are informed, businesses can communicate freely, and government power is restrained by clear constitutional limits.
Bill Wirtz is the senior policy analyst at the Consumer Choice Center, focusing on new technology, agriculture, trade and lifestyle regulations. He recently published "No Copy-paste: What Not to Emulate from Europe's Agriculture Regulations." Read Bill Wirtz's Reports — More Here.