After a few months of marijuana advertising being available on Twitter we finally have some results. Since the company decided to allow marijuana marketing on their social media platform early last month, many were worried about the implications that this could have on the market and users. Although heavily restricted, many marijuana companies chose to pursue their ad campaigns on Twitter regardless of how little they were allowed to show.
After the first few days of cannabis marketing on the site, many advertisers noticed their campaigns were taken down. Hemper Co Chief Marketing Officer Angel Ferrer set up and posted cannabis ads on the site. Shortly after, they were taken down and the company received a warning for the contents of their campaign. “I wasn’t running anything that I thought should have been disabled… We weren’t showing smoke – we had a product with a box. It’s not like they even reached out and offered direction.” Although Ferrer’s first ads were taken down, he said the company will continue to pursue advertising on the site.
Multiple other marijuana companies also told reporters that their ads were taken down with little to no feedback. This shows just how strict Twitter’s new marijuana advertising policy is. Many advertisers want to spend their money on the platform but with the heavy restrictions, they are finding that it is quite hard.
We are still unsure if this allowance of marijuana campaign will spill over onto other social media sites. Many experts believe that due to the high competition for ad revenue on these social media giants, they will soon follow in Twitter’s wake. Will their policies be just as strict or a bit looser we do not know.
Since the marijuana industry is growing to such a large scale, we can expect the share of advertising of cannabis to increase significantly. Already in legalized states there are billboards and signs all across freeways advertising their cannabis brand. As time moves forward and federal legalization comes to fruition, social media should follow suit.
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