Cite as: 521 U. S. 457 (1997)
Opinion of the Court
a campaign to promote the product that the defendant himself has chosen to market," id., at 1136, despite the plaintiff's objections to the content of the advertising,9 the court found no violation of his First Amendment rights.
We granted the Secretary's petition for certiorari to resolve the conflict, 517 U. S. 1232 (1996), and now reverse.
III
In challenging the constitutionality of the generic advertising program in the Court of Appeals, respondents relied, in part, on their claimed disagreement with the content of some of the generic advertising. 58 F. 3d, at 1377, n. 6. The District Court had found no merit to this aspect of their claim,10 and the Court of Appeals did not rely on it for its conclusion that the program was unconstitutional. Rather, the Court of Appeals invalidated the entire program on the theory that the program could not survive Central Hudson because the Government had failed to prove that generic advertising was more effective than individual advertising in increasing consumer demand for California nectarines, plums, and peaches. That holding did not depend at all on either the content of the advertising, or on the respondents' claimed disagreement with any particular message. Al-9 The plaintiff had claimed that he disagreed with the point of view expressed in advertising that the consumption of beef is " 'desirable, healthy, nutritious' "; the court concluded that his claim was not "a dispute over anything more than mere strategy." Frame, 885 F. 2d, at 1137.
10 The District Court stated: "Scattered throughout plaintiffs' briefs are additional objections which are difficult to characterize or quantify. They assert that the advertising condones 'lying' in that it promotes the 'lie' that red colored fruit is superior, that it rewards mediocrity by advertising all varieties of California fruit to be of equal quality, that it promotes sexually subliminal messages as evidenced by an ad depicting a young girl in a wet bathing suit, and that it promotes the 'socialistic programs' of the Secretary. It is impossible from these 'vague claims' to determine that plaintiffs' first amendment rights have been significantly infringed." Wileman Bros. & Elliott, Inc. v. Madigan, Civ. No. F-90-473-OWW (ED Cal. 1993), reprinted in App. to Pet. for Cert. 91a-92a.
467
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