Banning Ads- NOT Okay

While taking an ACT on saturday, I planned to go home and write a blog post on how a 5 hour test should not determine ones future, until I got to the writing portion. The prompt was whether or not the U.S should ban potentially dangerous or harmful products from advertising. I was so intrigued by this prompt, I kept thinking about it long after the test ended. The more I ponder this dilemma, the more I think that the United States should NOT be able to ban these products from advertising. The obvious arguing point is that it is unconstitutional to silence a company from advertising due to the first amendment: freedom of speech. Along the same line of thinking, equal opportunity is a core idea that many of the last century's problems have been boiled down to. If one company can advertise, all should be able to. Although it pains many to hear, these harmful products are some of the most profitable brands in the country. According to yahoo finance, 3 out of the top 5 most profitable brands can be labeled harmful. The article can be found here. Along with being successful, they are usually taxed higher than the average product. The U.S would lose a huge part of their tax revenue if harmful products were banned from advertising, which would lead to lack of sales.  While these points are very easy to come to, this problem has much more to it. Who's decision would it be to label a product dangerous or harmful. Of course there are the obvious ones like tobacco, alcohol, and tanning beds, but it is logical to make an argument for just about any object. If a child steps on a Lego in the dark and needs to go to the ER, will Toys' R' Us be forced to stop advertising? How about if someone has a deathly peanut allergy, will the peanut with the monocle cease to be seen? Both of these seemingly harmful brands could be forced to stop advertising if the U.S began to ban companies from releasing ads. Even banning just a few products could lead this country down a slippery slope. The U.S cannot ban harmful products from advertising, no matter how many people disagree with the morals of the brand/company.