Cite as: 512 U. S. 136 (1994)
Opinion of the Court
see also id., at 564 (regulation will not be sustained if it "provides only ineffective or remote support for the government's purpose"); Edenfield v. Fane, 507 U. S. 761, 767 (1993) (regulation must advance substantial state interest in a "direct and material way" and be in "reasonable proportion to the interests served"); In re R. M. J., 455 U. S., at 203 (State can regulate commercial speech if it shows that it has "a substantial interest" and that the interference with speech is "in proportion to the interest served").
The State's burden is not slight; the "free flow of commercial information is valuable enough to justify imposing on would-be regulators the costs of distinguishing the truthful from the false, the helpful from the misleading, and the harmless from the harmful." Zauderer, 471 U. S., at 646. "[M]ere speculation or conjecture" will not suffice; rather the State "must demonstrate that the harms it recites are real and that its restriction will in fact alleviate them to a material degree." Edenfield, 507 U. S., at 770, 771; see also Zauderer, 471 U. S., at 648-649 (State's "unsupported assertions" insufficient to justify prohibition on attorney advertising; "broad prophylactic rules may not be so lightly justified if the protections afforded commercial speech are to retain their force"). Measured against these standards, the order reprimanding Ibanez cannot stand.
B
We turn first to Ibanez' use of the CPA designation in her commercial communications. On that matter, the Board's position is entirely insubstantial. To reiterate, Ibanez holds a currently active CPA license which the Board has never sought to revoke. The Board asserts that her truthful communication is nonetheless misleading because it "[tells] the public that she is subject to the provisions of [the Accountancy Act] and the jurisdiction of the Board of Accountancy when she believes and acts as though she is not." Final Order, App. 185; see also Brief for Respondent 20 ("[T]he use
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