
By Tim Hermes
"Image is everything." -Andre Agassi
"You never get a second chance to make a first impression." -Will Rogers
If you were to put marijuana, alcohol and tobacco side-by-side and do a cold, hard analysis of each on its strengths and weaknesses as a substance, one would show extensive benefits, one would be so-so and one would have none. Marijuana has psychoactive properties that aid relaxation and creativity, and also has viable medicinal use particularly when used in pain management, glaucoma treatment, cancer treatment and more. Alcohol in moderation is said to have some value to health, and also is used as a relaxation substance. Only tobacco, and its stimulant drug, nicotine, has no benefit and is recognized as a leading cause of death.
So why does MJ have, by far, the worst image of the lot?
Drink beer: Go to parties. Meet other beautiful people. Dance on a beach.
Smoke cigarettes: Rustle cattle. Sit by a campfire. Look cool. Ride off into a sunset (albeit 15 years earlier than you should have) on a horse. Have stimulating conversation in a Parisian cafe.
Smoke cannabis: Lay on a couch in a maze of pizza boxes and Frito-Lay products while playing Mario Bros.
If you drink, you're a drinker.
If you smoke, you're a smoker.
If you smoke pot, you're a stoner. Not a user, or a consumer, but a stoner.
O.K., MJ has a disadvantage. It's still federally illegal and (improperly) classified as a Schedule 1 drug. That's a set-back. But why can't the MJ industry get out of its own way when it comes to branding and image?
Watch or read any news about legalized MJ, and you'll always see "the leaf," the hippie-script spelling out "pot" and the b-roll of the usual close-ups of joints being rolled, college kids celebrating 4/20 on some chilly campus and scruffy snowboarders huddled around a bong somewhere in Summit County. And this week's release of Afroman’s remix of “Because I Got High” just perpetuated the message. While the revamped lyrics were spot on - it was the visual that essentially overshadowed the new message. Afroman was high, on a sofa...
Every damn time.
And even the positive news uses the same inherently negative sub-message. There is just something about MJ that makes it seem like it's still something that should stay at arm's length. Why? Well lots of reasons. And while the push for legalization has gained momentum, acceptance on the level of alcohol or tobacco is years away. But the timeline can be compressed.
1. The industry needs consistent packaging. Take the beer industry as an example. Most beer is sold in 12-ounce bottles or cans. Microbrew beer almost exclusively in brown bottles, with labels being their distinguishing features. Marijuana is a plant. But like craft beer it can be packaged identically. Yes still branded properly.
Consistent, attractive packaging is a key element to a successful marketing mix. A plastic baggie doesn't do much. But a well-designed, odor-proof plastic or cardboard container (with a clearly visible, adult-use-only sticker) would do wonders for the industry, Especially if adopted as a standard for all MJ purchases. Uniform sizing and dispensing. For example --marijuana cigarettes rolled with a machine with a consistent size, sold in the same amount, store by store. But packaging isn’t just product–it’s people and location. Uniforms. Lab coats. Name tags. Lighting, Interior design. Consultation areas or cubicles. Basic things that would make anyone comfortable in a dispensary. The MJ industry simply needs to take a look at many of the successful efforts by the pharmaceutical associations and how they developed a campaign to overcome the misperception of flu shots. (I worked on it–it was great.)
2. The industry needs its own image makeover with a professional association as its benefactor. This is especially true for the news media. While there are many associations serving this market, most of them are focusing on advocacy and reform (which we salute). Dispensaries, growers and the vendors that serve them would be very well-served by the creation of an association to help fight the stigma of the sofa-surfing stoner. Ads and images of adults of all ages, clear-eyed and aware. Quality shots of real users in their real lives. Let’s call it the Cannabis Image Project. Here's what we need to kick it off:
- Shoot and make available new b-roll, showing other people, besides scruffy 25-year olds, using marijuana responsibly. Make this b-roll available to all networks, work on the demographics so all types–professionals, men, women, blue collar, patients, ethnicities–are recognized. A good b-roll library is inexpensive and easy to do, and getting the information to radio and TV is easy, as those lists are public and also available over the Internet.
- Engage more celebrities to support the cause (many would do it for free–musicians especially) and promote the safe and responsible use of marijuana and the extremely careful consumption
- Determine cohesive and consistent terminology, for example–users, or consumers, not potheads or stoners. Marijuana or cannabis, not weed or dope or pot. You get the picture. Consistency is so important.
- Heavy (and we mean heavy) awareness of the edibles market and the danger it poses to people unaware of dosage sizes, and youths who mistakenly ingest what they think is a treat. All it takes is a few brownies or cookies to be left unattended for a moment on a kitchen counter. (Note: To once again reiterate, CBT believes that the edibles market must be controlled more tightly than it is. Yet still be perfectly legal for sale to adults.)
(Interestingly as this article posted, a New York Times feature has run a short piece featuring Cannabrand, the first agency devoted to helping dispensaries and other companies revamp their image through smart media. You go, ladies.)
3. The industry must get truly involved in political advocacy on a statewide scale in 2014 and nationally in 2016. Most importantly, start a PAC to which all can donate, with the funds being spread to the candidates as seen fit. The minute the marijuana industry starts to influence not only the vote, but the candidates, then that’s where the real power lies. The industry must start a PAC, and raise money to give to appropriate candidates–which gets them major top-shelf influence in D.C. The MJ industry can take a lot tips from the Obama grass-roots ground game from 2008 and 2012 to create a powerful financial force in 2016. (2014? Too late, but at least some progress has been made.) Two more years will help the industry grow roots, mint more wealth and get the tap running. Nothing will help truly turn the tide toward legalization than the “other green”–cash. And as long as the number of legal states grows, and the current legal states enjoy the tax windfall, lower crime and bigger economic growth–the future, medically, legally, economically, and municipally, can be very bright indeed.
Can the MJ industry achieve these goals of turning the perception of MJ as a product to be used to get high, get hungry and get lazy? Yes. But it will need a concerted effort, consistency in media packaging, consistency in terminology, political force and packaging to change the perception of the dreaded “sofa stoner” into “marijuana user” on the same plain as a drinker, or a smoker. Maybe at some point we’ll be able to dance on a beach, too–and have it seem just as cool as if we were drinking beer.
Tim Hermes is publisher of Cannabis Business Times.