Chevrolet’s newest holiday ad is doing what great American advertising has always done, reminding people why these brands matter in the first place. The commercial follows a well worn Chevy Suburban through the seasons of family life. Kids pile into the backseat, backpacks and laughter everywhere. Years later, there are tearful college drop offs. Then comes the quiet moment no parent is ever really ready for, an empty nest. The ad closes with the old Suburban parked next to a new one as the family comes home for the holidays, now with grown kids and grandkids in tow. It is warm, nostalgic, and unapologetically sentimental.
This is not just selling a vehicle. It is selling a memory, a way of life, and the idea that family still matters. Americans have seen this kind of advertising for generations. Coca Cola’s polar bears. The Budweiser Clydesdales. These commercials are part of the holiday season itself. They help set the tone, not just move product.
And yet, there is a growing movement in Washington that seems determined to choke this entire ecosystem. Lawmakers are increasingly comfortable restricting advertising for products that are politically unpopular, even when they are completely legal. Pharmaceutical ads are the main target right now, with Senator Bernie Sanders pushing to ban them outright and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. surprisingly lining up with him.
On the surface, it sounds like an easy win. Big Pharma is not exactly beloved. Mocking drug commercials is practically a national pastime. But banning them is a classic case of overreach, and it comes with consequences that critics either ignore or refuse to admit.
We already have strict laws against false or misleading advertising, with serious penalties for violations. That system works. Going further and banning ads altogether is not about consumer protection, it is about control.
Prescription drugs save lives. They improve quality of life. Making people aware that treatments exist can be a social good. An ad that encourages someone to talk to their doctor about a condition they have been suffering with quietly can change outcomes. Driving demand for treatments that actually work is not a problem, it is the goal.
Imagine a breakthrough drug that dramatically slows or cures breast cancer. Now imagine the government prevents the company from advertising it. Patients would not know to ask. Doctors would not hear from informed patients. Access would slow, not because of science, but because of politics.
There is also a bigger danger here. Once the government starts banning ads for legal products it does not like, that power never stays contained. A future administration could decide gas powered vehicles are bad for the environment and ban their ads. Or meat. Or diapers. The precedent is the point.
Pharmaceutical ads are not perfect. Neither are car commercials. But free markets depend on free information. Chevrolet’s holiday ad works because it speaks to real people and real lives. If Washington keeps tightening the screws on advertising, it will not stop with drug commercials. And when that happens, Americans will lose far more than a few cheesy TV spots.
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