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Super Bowl Marijuana Ads

By Jessica Covitz
According to Acreage Holdings, CBS rejected its proposed Super Bowl Ad, which promotes the benefits of medical marijuana. The ad hoped to advocate medical marijuana’s power to alleviate pain on a broader spectrum. Acreage Holdings is publicizing its declined ad in hopes of major recognition about the topic. The company plans to air a 60-second version of the ad on its website for viewers who wish to see it.
“We’re disappointed by the news, but somewhat unsurprised,” Acreage Holdings President George Allen said. “Still, we developed the ad in the spirit of a public service announcement. We feel it’s our responsibility to advocate on behalf of our patients.”
Although many states in the nation legalized recreational and medical marijuana, it still remains federally illegal. This could be why CBS does not want to advertise in favor of medical marijuana. It would be safer for them to do so once marijuana is legal in every state. Ironically, some players of the NFL have stated that they are active users of marijuana to help cope with injuries.
Under CBS’s broadcast standards, the network cannot even accept cannabis-related advertising on any of its programming. Perhaps CBS is afraid to be the first network advertising marijuana, especially during the Super Bowl, when the network has the highest viewing rates. Being the first to do anything in the networking industry is already a high risk move, so to advertise something that isn’t even nationally legal yet is an ever bigger risk to take. With that being said, it is understandable why CBS rejected the ad proposal.
Though marijuana is stirring up much controversy, the subject of too many beer commercials rarely comes up. The common topic for advertisements during the Super Bowl is wings and beer. What is not shared is how it compares to marijuana. Yes, it’s okay to have a few beers while watching the game, but realistically beer is more harmful than the marijuana. Studies show that thousands of deaths in the U.S. are caused by alcohol, yet there have been zero documented deaths from marijuana use alone. Also, alcohol is linked with several types of cancer, whereas marijuana is not. In fact, marijuana helps those with cancer which is exactly what Acreage Holdings is trying to advocate.

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