How legal weed has transformed cannabis marketing on social media

Legal marijuana has changed the way people think about cannabis, leading to a change in the way it is marketed. A new study reveals how cannabis is being promoted on social media apps and how this has opened up the market to people who don’t fit the typical stoner stereotype.

The study, published in Crime, Media, Culture: An International Journal, found that women have slowly entered the equation, confounding what is traditionally viewed as cannabis users. These women promote cannabis in different ways and incorporate it into their daily lives and activities.

Using Instagram as their social media platform of choice, the researchers analyzed illegal sellers in Switzerland with “cannabis influencers” in the US and discovered their differences. Researchers found that cannabis influencers were challenging what had long been considered attractive to cannabis markets, something that could have global ramifications.

Photo by Volodymyr Bondarenko/EyeEm/Getty Images

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“Our results show that cannabis influencers on Instagram are changing the stereotypical characteristics of illicit cannabis culture, which is almost exclusively male-dominated, to presenting cannabis as a desirable accessory in certain female lifestyles,” the study researchers write. These influencers painted cannabis as an activity that can be practiced by moms, people investing in their physical and mental health, and more.

Study authors acknowledge how cannabis influencers on platforms like Instagram have had to get creative given how the app blocks their sales and censors their content. In their posts, influencers make it clear that they don’t sell cannabis, they simply support it, pairing it with appealing imagery and a lifestyle that other people are keen to emulate.

“When cannabis is marketed by legal influencers rather than illegal dealers, we see a shift in the use of symbols related to amateurism versus professionalism, intimacy and lifestyle, and argue that these shifts are related to how influencers do it Treat gender differently than salespeople do,” the researchers explain (via Marijuana Moment).

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Marijuana use has evolved over the years and has become less of a taboo subject and more something that can be openly discussed and consumed. In places where the drug is legal, it makes sense that social media users would promote it as something that’s just another activity to take part in.

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