Brand advertisers are often accused of stretching the truth. Except that the claims they make have to be substantiated, they are subject to FTC rules and truth-in-advertising laws. There does, however, exist a dark corner of the communications world where advertisers claim just about anything they want, without fear of being shut down by regulations or disclosure rules. That would be the realm of political and legislative issue ads.

The First Amendment protects these ads as non-commercial speech, so they’re not subject to the same restrictions. As such, they all too often make outrageous claims in order to sway viewers and listeners to their side, employing straw men, hyperbole, half-truths, and outright lies, with little or no regard for the facts.

A case in point is an ad sponsored by a conservative group called the Independent Women’s Forum which claims healthcare reform legislation could result in 300,000 deaths from breast cancer, while another, put out by Americans United For Change flips the script on the death panel controversy by claiming that we already have death panels, masquerading as health insurance companies. And that’s just the tip of a very large iceberg when it comes to this type of advertising.

Imagine a world where advertising was completely unregulated, where advertisers were able to make as outrageous a claim as they wanted, truth be damned. Apparently, that world is already here – NPR reports there’s currently over $100 million being spent on various political and legislative issue ads.

Conservatives for Patients’ Rights: Squeeze

MoveOn.org: Shark Week

Patients United Now: Survivor

MoveOn.org: Caught Red Handed

Family Research Council: Life and Death

Americans United for Change: GOP Rx for Health Insurance Reform