As states increasingly move to legalize marijuana, new opportunities are opening up for brands and sellers to market cannabis to a wider audience.
But as innovation in marijuana—from new products to distribution and growing practices—proliferates in states like Colorado, California and Washington where the drug is legal, that doesn’t mean tech and advertising platforms are open for business. During a panel at South by Southwest about technology in the cannabis industry, it became clear that there are significant hurdles in marketing marijuana. Facebook, Instagram and Google have all cracked down on allowing marijuana brands to run advertising, even in the states where weed is legal.
“Operators like Facebook, Instagram are pulling accounts all the time or Facebook won’t even let you start advertising,” said Cy Scott, CEO and co-founder of Headset, an analytics company that works with cannabis brands to provide sales data. “It’s worse than alcohol or tobacco—you see beer commercials all the time [where] everyone looks like they’re having a good time and enjoying alcohol, but you don’t see that with cannabis.”
Top photo courtesy of Adobe Stock
