Cannabis Advertising – How the Industry Circumvents Media Restrictions

Cannabis is legal in most of North America, but there are still restrictions on cannabis advertising. The industry works around these boundaries, but is that enough?

NBC recently blocked the playback of a Weedmaps commercial during Super Bowl LVI. The commercial looks fairly harmless, with jokes about how people use “broccoli” as a euphemism for cannabis. Nevertheless, NBC did not want this broadcast on their platform. This decision seems odd given the NFL’s newfound stance on players consuming weed, but given the past restrictions on cannabis advertising, it’s not all that surprising. For example, CBS took a similar step three years ago when they blocked a commercial promoting legal medicinal cannabis during Super Bowl LIII.

Why advertising cannabis remains difficult

These decisions reflect severe restrictions placed on cannabis advertising. It varies from state to state, but cannabis ads cannot target an under-21 audience. Therefore, if the platform has a large enough demographic below that age, cannabis companies cannot promote their products. Similar restrictions apply here in Canada, where the government has legalized weed at the federal level. You simply cannot advertise on any platform where anyone under the age of 18 can see it.

The Internet is also not a very hospitable place for advertising. Most major social media platforms, including Google, ban cannabis ads or apps promoting cannabis. Platforms like Facebook also ban promotions on social media sites, but you can get away with it if you’re subtle. Apple is really the only one of the big tech companies that has eased restrictions a bit. Back in 2021, they changed the policies for their app store to allow cannabis companies to release their own apps.

How the cannabis industry deals with censorship and restrictions

The limitations of cannabis advertising are understandable to a certain extent. Similar limitations exist for the alcohol industry, and studies have found that advertising has a profound effect on teenagers. But as the industry tries to make a name for itself, these limitations are definitely hampering its growth.

Luckily, the industry still has its ways of reaching customers. Technological advances allow businesses to easily find platforms to host them without violating any laws or restrictions. For example, programmatic advertising significantly streamlines the advertising process. Basically, programmatic advertising automatically searches for cannabis-friendly platforms for businesses to advertise on. It might not be mainstream TV or major social media sites, but it allows the companies to reliably promote their wares without getting into trouble.

And for now, the strategy seems to be working. The cannabis industry has managed to grow even amid the COVID restrictions, and demand doesn’t look like it’s slowing down anytime soon.