{"id":52762,"date":"2022-02-07T08:45:03","date_gmt":"2022-02-07T16:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/02\/07\/weedmaps-ad-satirizes-plight-of-broccoli-emoji-as-marijuana-stand-in-on-social-media\/"},"modified":"2022-02-07T13:46:23","modified_gmt":"2022-02-07T21:46:23","slug":"weedmaps-ad-satirizes-plight-of-broccoli-emoji-as-marijuana-stand-in-on-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/02\/07\/weedmaps-ad-satirizes-plight-of-broccoli-emoji-as-marijuana-stand-in-on-social-media\/","title":{"rendered":"Weedmaps Ad Satirizes Plight Of Broccoli Emoji As Marijuana Stand-In On Social Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

The marijuana technology company Weedmaps released a satirical ad on Monday about a man dressed as broccoli who\u2019s going through an identity crisis because people have come to associate the vegetable with cannabis.<\/p>\n

The ad is a commentary on the censorship that marijuana businesses continue to face on social media and mainstream advertising, forcing people to use emojis like broccoli, maple leafs and literal pots to talk about cannabis.<\/p>\n

Weedmaps says the timing of the release is intentional, pegged to the Super Bowl, which is one of the most coveted events for advertising opportunities that regularly features alcohol brands. Just like when CBS rejected a cannabis-related ad in 2019, Weedmaps said it reached out about running their own ad this year, and \u201cthe network did decline the request,\u201d according to a press release.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m an icon,\u201d the character named Brock Ollie says in the ad. \u201cBut since we can\u2019t talk about cannabis publicly, my likeness is being used as a safe substance.\u201d<\/p>\n

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After going through a typical work day where people jokingly stereotype the broccoli\u2014like assuming he\u2019s getting high when he\u2019s just going to a finance meeting in one scene\u2014the character meets up with a couple other emoji icons that are sometimes used as stand-ins for marijuana on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s taking over my life,\u201d he complains. \u201cCannabis is here to stay and that\u2019s great. But can we just call it what it is?\u201d<\/p>\n

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#SaveBrockOllie<\/a> \"🥦\" https:\/\/t.co\/l7I9QN15jO<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Weedmaps (@weedmaps) February 7, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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While leaf, broccoli and tree icons are often used to represent marijuana, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) recently put out a report that raised questions about its drug culture literacy, with certain dubious claims about the types of emoji substitutes that it says young people are using for illicit drugs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Weedmaps ad\u2019s release<\/a> is meant to coincide with the Super Bowl, but Weedmaps stressed that advertising restrictions are widely enforced, limiting businesses that are lawfully operating in the growing number of states that have legalized cannabis.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite three quarters of the country having legalized cannabis and the bipartisan enthusiasm we continue to see in support for change at the federal level, the industry continues to face roadblocks that inhibit competition in the legal market and stifle opportunities to educate,\u201d Weedmaps CEO Chris Beals, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an irony in the fact that the biggest night for advertising will feature an array of consumer brands in regulated industries, from beverage alcohol to sports betting, yet legal cannabis retailers, brands and businesses have been boxed out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The call to action at the end of the video is a simple statement: \u201cCannabis is here. Let\u2019s talk about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beals said that the advertising challenges that the industry faces \u201care simply one part of a much larger issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cObjective and reliable information about cannabis is integral to the sustained growth of this industry,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cThe deficiency of such information and the current limitations that hinder cannabis education continue to negatively impact other areas, such as medical research, and it\u2019s time we begin to address them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anecdotally, marijuana brands and influencers commonly complain that their accounts are shut down by platforms like Instagram, even in cases where they\u2019re not directly selling or promoting the sale of cannabis.<\/p>\n

Advocates also found it hypocritical that Twitter partnered with a federal drug agency last year<\/a> to promote substance misuse treatment resources when users of the social media platform search for \u201cmarijuana\u201d or certain other substance-related keywords\u2014but no such health warning appears with results for alcohol-connected terms.<\/p>\n

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Cannabis Store Co-owned By Top Virginia Senator Sells Mislabeled Products With Illegal THC Content, Media Investigation Finds<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Photo courtesy of YouTube\/Weedmaps<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Weedmaps Ad Satirizes Plight Of Broccoli Emoji As Marijuana Stand-In On Social Media<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Weedmaps Ad Satirizes Plight Of Broccoli Emoji As Marijuana Stand-In On Social Media<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The marijuana technology company Weedmaps released a satirical ad on Monday about a man dressed as broccoli who\u2019s going through an identity crisis because people have come to associate the vegetable with cannabis. The ad is a commentary on the censorship that marijuana businesses continue to face on social mediaContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":52763,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1335,99,18,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52762"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52762"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52764,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52762\/revisions\/52764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}