Coin World has a very bright line between Advertising and Editorial.  Numismatics is a hobby all about the buying and selling of money, so it is no surprise that many people are carried away by their own self-interest.  A couple of readers said to me what other editors had heard before: "You people think you're the New York Times."  And they did.  Only a few of us were not J-school graduates. One of the others who was not was the "Trends" (price sheet) editor, Stuart Segan.  A lifelong collector himself, his degree was in physics from Berkeley.  Whenever that bright line came up in a staff meeting, Stuart would reply, "Advertising is content."

Long ago, on the Merv Griffin show, Durk Pearson replied to FDA regulations by saying, "OK, let them say whatever they want on their half of the label and let the manufacturer say whatever they want on their half and let the consumer decide."

If we have "freedom of speech" how does that not apply to advertising?  I mean that people who would protect any political speech (writing, etc.) somehow find advertising unworthy.

Fred, "let the government print whatever they want on their half of the label" must be understood in context.  Durk Pearson knows enough to explain freedom to you in terms that you understand but did not think of first.  So, he took on the FDA on the Merv Griffin Show.  He was Merv's most popular guest for several  years in the 1980s.  He had the ears of America in a way that Rush and Glenn never can because he spoke to people who were not pre-committed to agreeing with him.  So, in his time - as in ours - the FDA owns 100% of the label.  He just made a reasonable counter-offer, and millions of viewers agreed.

Whether that translated to political action is a different issue; but I submit that the general trend of the people of the nation has been in a direction and dimension different from the government of the nation.

As for advertising being lying and cheating, I go by an 80-20 rule that I picked up in criminology: 80% of your problems are caused by 20% of the people you know; a chief of police would cast that as 80% of the problems come from 20% of the addresses in every and any neighborhood.  The claim that advertising draws that 20% of business people to prey upon the other 80% rests on several assumptions.  It is not my responsibility to look out for your self-interest, even if I wanted to.  

I sell widgets.  I can give you lots of good reasons to buy one. I can warn you of the downside.  Ultimately, the choice is yours.  The package could even show an old guy surrounded by hot young women.  It is still a widget.  Buy it or not. But don't blame me if you are unhappy.  I am not responsible for your happiness.