Chevrolet’s newest holiday ad is tugging at America’s heartstrings.

The spot follows a family’s classic Chevy Suburban through decades of memories — kids tumbling around the backseat, tearful college drop-offs, and that quiet, bittersweet moment when the house becomes an empty nest. The ad ends as the couple parks their old Suburban beside a shiny new one, welcoming their grown children and grandchildren home for the holidays.

It’s the kind of commercial American companies have long excelled at: emotionally evocative in all the right ways, tapping into nostalgia, family, and the warmth of the season — and, yes, selling a product. Holiday ads have become part of our cultural fabric. Think of Coca-Cola’s polar bears, or the Budweiser Clydesdales. These ads don’t just market products; they help set the tone for the season.

Ads like these may not survive if Washington continues down a troubling road of restricting TV commercials for politically unpopular — but legal — products.

At the top of this list is pharmaceutical ads, which Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) wants removed from the airwaves. In that fight he has an unlikely ally: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr…

Pharmaceutical ads may not be the most popular thing in the world. But that doesn’t change the fact that they have a real benefit — or the fact that banning them would do more harm than good.