Marijuana advertising can be a challenging undertaking. This is considering that marijuana is restricted at the federal level. Therefore, despite the legalization of marijuana in 33 states in the US, marijuana advertising is still not as easy as other drugs. So what are some of the challenges of advertising marijuana?
Regulatory Challenges
Marijuana advertising is subjected to strict restrictions. Therefore, marijuana dealers have to tackle the severe conditions before CBD advertisement is permitted to be shown. These strict laws are in place to protect the children and vulnerable youth against the misuse of marijuana. The regulatory challenges are at the state level and the federal level. Besides, each state has different restrictions, making it difficult for the dealers to ensure compliance.
Major Social Media Platforms Still Ban CBD Ads
Although we see easement of CBD Advertising rules, some of the major social media platforms are still adamant and not ready to change their marijuana advertisement restrictions. Consider that the marijuana restrictions still apply at the federal level. This makes it difficult for global social media platforms to allow marijuana advertising. Some cannabis companies have had their pages or profiles banned for posting CBD related content, which amounts to a violation of the terms and conditions as stipulated by the respective social media platform.
Distribution Constraints
However, how effective an advertisement may be, there is the challenge of getting the CBD products to the end-user. Therefore, even in cases where the online shoppers interact with the advert and end up buying, the cannabis supplier still experiences difficulties trying to get the products to the consumer. For instance, the US postal office does not ship cannabis products. This affects the effectiveness of the advertisements.
E-commerce Brands are Staying out of the Cannabis Industry
Even with rigorous marijuana advertisements, the cannabis companies cannot sell through the established online shopping platforms like Amazon, leaving alone using payment gateways like PayPal to pay for their CBD orders. Therefore, the effectiveness of the advertisement methods is still questionable.
How The Pandemic is Affecting Marijuana Advertising
The global pandemic is having severe effects on how we advertise. Therefore, where CBD companies were allowed to place billboards, those billboards no longer generate the reach they potentially attained before the pandemic. This is considering that the travel restrictions affected how people interact with the advertisements. Besides, advertising on subways is no longer useful as people have chosen to work from home rather than commute to work.
The Concept of Ambient Marijuana Advertising
