Cite as: 507 U. S. 410 (1993)
Blackmun, J., concurring
The commercial publications at issue in this case illustrate the absurdity of treating all commercial speech as less valuable than all noncommercial speech. Respondent Harmon Publishing Company, Inc., publishes and distributes a free magazine containing listings and photographs of residential properties. Like the "For Sale" signs this Court, in Lin-mark Associates, Inc. v. Willingboro, 431 U. S. 85 (1977), held could not be banned, the information contained in Harmon's publication "bear[s] on one of the most important decisions [individuals] have a right to make: where to live and raise their families." Id., at 96. Respondent Discovery Network, Inc., advertises the availability of adult educational, recreational, and social programs. Our cases have consistently recognized the importance of education to the professional and personal development of the individual. See, e. g., Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U. S. 483, 493 (1954). The "value" of respondents' commercial speech, at least to those who receive it, certainly exceeds the value of the offensive, though political, slogan displayed on the petitioner's jacket in Cohen v. California, 403 U. S. 15 (1971).
I think it highly unlikely that according truthful, noncoercive commercial speech the full protection of the First Amendment will erode the level of that protection. See post, at 439 (dissenting opinion); Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Assn., 436 U. S., at 456. I have predicted that "the Court will never provide child pornography or cigarette advertising the level of protection customarily granted political speech." See R. A. V. v. St. Paul, 505 U. S. 377, 415 (1992) (opinion concurring in judgment). Yet I do not believe that protecting truthful advertising will test this Nation's commitment to the First Amendment to any greater extent than protecting offensive political speech. See, e. g., Texas v. Johnson, 491 U. S. 397 (1989) (flag burning); National Socialist Party of America v. Skokie, 432 U. S. 43 (1977) (Nazi
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