Cannabis Advertising Restrictions Highlight New Legal Weed Advocacy Campaign
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If you’re watching this year’s Super Bowl between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals this weekend, there’s a good chance you’ll see some advertisements for drugs between touchdowns and fumbles. During commercial breaks, you’ll see ads for alcohol and prescription drugs, with likely more beer or booze ads lining the sideline walls. At halftime, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, the duo who turned the word “chronic” into a cultural phenomenon, will perform live.
One thing you won’t see on your TV on Super Bowl Sunday, though, is weed. Sure, most of the country lives in a state with some form of cannabis legalization, a significant number of NFL players have joined the push for marijuana law reform, and the league itself has even spent upwards of a million dollars researching the efficacy of medical cannabis compounds for athletes. Still, amidst commercials for alcoholic seltzer, hair loss remedies, and erectile dysfunction pills, weed will be entirely absent.
That green rush blackout is the subject of the latest advocacy-focused campaign from Weedmaps, the longstanding California-based dispensary locator and cannabis news website. The new project, titled “Cannabis censorship affects everybody, especially Brock Ollie,” follows a personified stalk of broccoli walking through a normal day at an office job, constantly encountering winks, nods, and offhand comments implying he is an ardent stoner – after all, if you’re going to send an emoji talking about how dank your latest batch of herb is, Brock Ollie is one of the most common options.
At the end of the day, Brock heads home to unwind from his hard day, sitting on a couch to commiserate with his friends who struggle with the same issue, a maple leaf and a potted plant. The implication is clear – these stand-in emojis are tired of the charade, and it’s time to stop shying away from and disguising marijuana in cultural communication.
“Despite three quarters of the country having legalized cannabis and the bipartisan enthusiasm we continue to see in support for change at the federal level, the industry continues to face roadblocks that inhibit competition in the legal market and stifle opportunities to educate,” Chris Beals, chief executive officer of Weedmaps said.
Because cannabis is still completely illegal at the federal level. Most major advertising buyers in the digital and major media space – including Google, Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, and network television providers – simply refuse to carry cannabis advertisements, often extending that ban to legal hemp and its derivatives like CBD.
When cannabis companies can advertise, be it on highway billboards, in local newspapers, or on 420-friendly websites. They do not share the same advertising tax breaks given to mainstream businesses. Thanks to Section 280 of the US tax code, companies selling federally illicit drugs cannot claim any business deductions at all.
“In cannabis and CBD we have to play this game with one hand behind our back,” Chris Shreeve, co-founder of PrograMetrix, a digital advertising agency that supports cannabis brands told Weedmaps. “How in the world can we expect cannabis brands to grow, scale, and thrive without access to proper marketing and advertising channels?”
When it comes to the NFL, the league has a “restricted” list for its advertising standards not only for the Super Bowl but for the entire season of ads. In an interview with The Verge, NFL spokesperson Alex Riethmiller said that “Cannabis falls within that restricted category.” Weedmaps isn’t the first cannabis company to be blocked from the Super Bowl either. Multinational cannabis brand Acreage Holdings released their own commercial that was rejected from last year’s big game. Outside of cannabis, the NFL has rejected advertising from the supplement sales chain GNC because some of the products they sell are banned for use in the league.
Still, the league apparently has no problem selling their fans alcohol, pharmaceuticals, gambling, and the unregulated financial markets of cryptocurrency.
“There’s an irony in the fact that the biggest night for advertising will feature an array of consumer brands in regulated industries, from beverage alcohol to sports betting, yet legal cannabis retailers, brands and businesses have been boxed out,” Weedmaps CEO Chris Beals told Benzinga.
Cannabis has made immense strides into mainstream American culture over the past two decades, but the Super Bowl’s notable absence of anything cannabis related is a good reminder that there is still a long way to go before weed is engratiated entirely into our living rooms in time for kick off.
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