Opinion of the Court 5 431 U.S. example, that surveys in two areas of the township found overwhelming support for the law, id., at 29a, 84a. In addition, at least at the second meeting, the citizens, who were not real estate agents and who spoke, favored the proposed ordinance by a sizable margin. Interestingly, however, at both meetings those defending the ordinance focused primarily on aesthetic considerations and on the effect of signs-and transiency generally on property values. Few speakers directly referred to the changing racial composition of Willingboro in supporting the proposed law. Although the ordinance had been in effect for nine months prior to trial, no statistical data were presented concerning its impact. Respondents' witnesses all agreed, however, that the number of persons selling or considering selling their houses because of racial fears had declined sharply. But several of these witnesses also testified that the number of sales in Willingboro had not declined since the ordinance was enacted. Moreover, respondents' real-estate-agent witnesses both stated that their business had increased by 25% since the ordinance was enacted, id., at 164a, 226a, and one of these agents reported that the racial composition of his clientele remained unchanged, id., at 160a. The District Court did not make specific findings of fact. In the course of its opinion, however, the court stated that Willingboro "is to a large extent a transient community, partly due to its proximity to the military facility at Fort Dix and in part due to the numerous transfers of real estate." The court also stated that there was "no evidence" that whites were leaving Willingboro en masse as "For Sale" signs appeared, but "merely an indication that its residents are concerned that there may be a large influx of minority groups moving in to the town with the resultant effect being a reduc 5 One of the two "surveys" took the form of an effort by citizens in the Rittenhouse Park section of Willingboro to ban "For Sale" signs. That effort attracted the support of 70% of the homeowners in the section. tion in property values." The Court of Appeals essentially accepted these "findings," although it found that Willingboro was experiencing "incipient" panic selling, 535 F. 2d, at 799, and that a "fear psychology [had] developed," id., at 790. II The starting point for analysis of petitioners' First Amendment claim must be the two recent decisions in which this Court has eroded the "commercial speech" exception to the First Amendment. In Bigelow v. Virginia, 421 U. S. 809 (1975), decided less than two years ago, this Court for the first time expressed its dissatisfaction with the then-prevalent approach of resolving a class of First Amendment claims simply by categorizing the speech as "commercial." Id., at 826. "Regardless of the particular label," we stated, "a court may not escape the task of assessing the First Amendment interest at stake and weighing it against the public interest allegedly served by the regulation." Ibid. After conducting such an analysis in Bigelow we concluded that Virginia could not constitutionally punish the publisher of a newspaper for printing an abortion referral agency's paid advertisement which not only promoted the agency's services but also contained information about the availability of abortions. One year later, in Virginia Pharmacy Bd. v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, 425 U. S. 748 (1976), we went further. Conceding that "[s]ome fragment of hope for the continuing validity of a 'commercial speech' exception arguably might have persisted because of the subject matter of the advertisement in Bigelow," id., at 760, we held quite simply, that commercial speech is not "wholly outside the protection of the First Amendment," id., at 761. Although recognizing that "[s]ome forms of commercial speech regulations"-such as regulation of false or misleading speech-"are surely per missible," id., at 770, we had little difficulty in finding that Virginia's ban on the advertising of prescription drug prices by pharmacists was unconstitutional." Respondents contend, as they must, that the "For Sale". signs banned in Willingboro are constitutionally distinguishable from the abortion and drug advertisements we have previously considered. It is to the distinctions respondents advance that we now turn. B If the Willingboro law is to be treated differently from those invalidated in Bigelow and Virginia Pharmacy Bd., it cannot be because the speakers or listeners have a lesser First Amendment interest in the subject matter of the speech that is regulated here. Persons desiring to sell their homes are just as interested in communicating that fact as are sellers of other goods and services. Similarly, would-be purchasers of realty are no less interested in receiving information about available property than are purchasers of other commodities in receiving like information about those commodities. And the societal interest in "the free flow of commercial information," Virginia Pharmacy Bd., supra, at 764, is in no way lessened by the fact that the subject of the commercial information here is realty rather than abortions or drugs. The Court of Appeals did not have the benefit of Virginia Pharmacy Bd. when it issued its decision in this case. To some extent the court anticipated that decision, recognizing that the fact that "a communication is commercial in nature does not ipso facto strip the communication of its First Amendment protections." 535 F. 2d 786, 795 (CA3 1976). But the court premised its analysis on a sharp dichotomy between commercial and "pure" or noncommercial speech, id., at 794, and concluded that commercial speech may be restricted if its "impact be found detrimental" by a municipality, and if "the limitation on any pure speech element [is] minimal," id., at 795. After Virginia Pharmacy Bd. it is clear that commercial speech cannot be banned because of an unsubstantiated belief that its impact is "detrimental." Respondents nevertheless argue that First Amendment concerns are less directly implicated by Willingboro's ordinance because it restricts only one method of communication. This distinction is not without significance to First Amendment analysis, since laws regulating the time, place, or manner of speech stand on a different footing from laws prohibiting speech altogether. Cf., e. g., Kovacs v. Cooper, 336 U. S. 77 (1949); Adderley v. Florida, 385 U. S. 39 (1966); Grayned v. City of Rockford, 408 U. S. 104 (1972). Respondents' effort to defend the ordinance on this ground is unpersuasive, however, for two reasons. First, serious questions exist as to whether the ordinance "leave[s] open ample alternative channels for communication," Virginia Pharmacy Bd., supra, at 771. Although in theory sellers remain free to employ a number of different alternatives, in practice realty is not marketed through leaflets, sound trucks, demonstrations, or the like. The options to which sellers realistically are relegated-primarily newspaper advertising and listing with real estate agents-involve more cost and less autonomy than "For Sale" signs; cf. Martin v. City of Struthers, 319 U. S. 141, 146 (1943); Kovacs v. Cooper, supra, at 102–103 (Black, J., dissenting); are less likely to reach persons not deliberately seeking sales information, cf. United States v. O'Brien, 391 U. S. 367, 388-389 (1968) (Harlan, J., concurring); and may be less effective media for communicating the message that is conveyed by a "For Sale" sign in front of the house to be sold, cf. Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. 15, 25-26 (1971). The alternatives, then, are far from satisfactory. Second, the Willingboro ordinance is not genuinely concerned with the place of the speech-front lawns or the manner of the speech-signs. The township has not prohibited all lawn signs-or all lawn signs of a particular size or shape-in order to promote aesthetic values or any other value "unrelated to the suppression of free expression," United Opinion of the Court. 8 431 U.S. States v. O'Brien, supra, at 377. Nor has it acted to restrict a mode of communication that "intrudes on the privacy of the home, . . . makes it impractical for the unwilling viewer or auditor to avoid exposure," Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville, 422 U. S. 205, 209 (1975), or otherwise reaches a group the township has a right to protect. And respondents have not demonstrated that the place or manner of the speech produces a detrimental "secondary effect" on society, Young v. American Mini Theatres, 427 U. S. 50, 71 n. 34 (1976). Rather, Willingboro has proscribed particular types of signs based on their content because it fears their "primary" effect-that they will cause those receiving the information to act upon it. That the proscription applies only to one mode of communication, therefore, does not transform this into a "time, place, or manner" case. See, e. g., Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville, supra; Police Department of Chicago v. Mosley, 408 U. S. 92 (1972); Tinker v. Des Moines School Dist., 393 U. S. 503, 510 (1969). If the ordinance is to be sustained, it must be on the basis of the township's interest in regulating the content of the communication, and not on any interest in regulating the form. C Respondents do seek to distinguish Bigelow and Virginia Pharmacy Bd. by relying on the vital goal this ordinance serves: namely, promoting stable, racially integrated housing. There can be no question about the importance of achieving this goal. This Court has expressly recognized that substantial benefits flow to both whites and blacks from interracial 7 Accordingly, we do not decide whether a ban on signs or a limitation on the number of signs could survive constitutional scrutiny if it were unrelated to the suppression of free expression. See Baldwin v. Redwood City, 540 F. 2d 1360, 1368-1369 (CA9 1976); cf. Markham Advertising Co. v. State, 73 Wash. 2d 405, 439 P. 2d 248 (1968), appeal dismissed, 393 U. S. 316 (1969). 8 Cf. Capital Broadcasting Co. v. Mitchell, 333 F. Supp. 582, 585-586 (DC 1971), summarily aff'd, 405 U. S. 1000 (1972). |