The Supreme Court’s ruling aimed at protecting us from certain forms of political speech reminds me of another branch of government’s effort to protect us from another form of advertising–ads for get-thin-quick products. The new campaign against these ads makes you think that the government thinks fat people aren’t just plump–they must be stupid, too. The public needs to be protected from political speech, our inability to resist Whoppers, and ads that claim you can drop pounds by wearing a vibrating belt? Newspapers need guidelines for these advertisements? What really bothers those who would ban such advertisements is not their content. It’s that they’ve moved from the downmarket publications into the upmarket ones. What those who would ban these ads really object to is: tackiness. They want to protect us from tackiness. I love these ads–they’re part of Americana. I should miss them dearly.