Pictured here is an ad for a marijuana dispensary in Washington. I picked this ad because it is one I have seen near my own home and have personal experience with this billboard. The company marketing this product is called Clear Choice Cannabis. This is one of many cannabis stores in Tacoma. SeaTac is where the main airport in WA is, so it is a hot spot for marijuana since it is the first place where people from out of state see legal WA marijuana. Clear Choice does not have info on their website about their founding date, but it would be within the last 5 years of legal marijuana in WA state. Cannabis shops, like any kind of shop, are there to bring in revenue and that is why they advertise. They also tell us they’re dedicated to enhancing each users cannabis experience. Intended audience for this can be people from non-legal marijuana states.  The ad is goofy, making a cat pun. It intends to get the attention of the young or goofy “stoner” crowd.

The issue with the message pictured is in the nature of the cat. It is an image that catches the attention of children and that can cause problems. This billboard has actually been causing some drama within the area, since a warm fluffy cat may bring children’s attention to the billboard and children would then learn about cannabis. State lawmakers are always concerned with the federal law, and by being unstrict about cannabis they put a target on the back of our states cannabis industry. This is making lawmakers reevaluate the limits on advertising with this industry. New rules would limit the amount of fluffy fuzzy animals and images of actual cannabis for the sake of children and others.

Cannabis’ active ingredient is Tetra Hydra Cannabinol, or more commonly known as THC. To learn more about how THC acts in your brain when you smoke, follow this link to see Hank Green explain in a well cited video. Now the dangers of cannabis are not extremely flushed out since its legality is not widespread. There have been links from excessive weed smoking to lung cancer and emphysema, especially when paired with tobacco smoking, as we see in this study. A lot of the definite risks I have seen associated with cannabis are related to the act of smoking it more so than the actual active ingredient itself. Mentally, marijuana can make a person more depressed after long usage, according to this article. The ad mentioned earlier does not tell us much about the long term effects of cannabis because it would not prove to be effective marketing.

A lot of the real issues with cannabis exist because of racism that the drug is used to enforce. Although both black and white people use cannabis as often as each other, the arrest rates are drastically different. In most cases black people are 4x more likely to be arrested for cannabis use, and in some places like Maryland and Washington DC black people are 8x more likely to be arrested for marijuana use, according to this article by The Washington Post. Even in places where weed is legal it is still skewed against those in minority. Smoking is only allowed in private homes, never public places and multi family housing with anti-smoking policy includes the smoking of cannabis.

This ad sensationalizes marijuana with lighthearted goofy imagery. The cat represents a silly lighthearted culture associated with weed and grabs the general audiences attention with the humor from the pun. Appealing to a persons sense of humor is a very strong advertising strategy. Cats are also very hip right now, with popular internet culture, having a cat present on the ad is almost the same as having a very relatable celebrity. This is deceptive because it doesn’t actually make you any funnier than you are, which the ad implies, but there is some truth to it in the way that a high person would really appreciate that pun because of their altered mental state.

All in all, I would not mind my friends and family using cannabis. Personally, as long as they have a positive relationship with the drug that doesn’t go into the territory of dependence then who am I to invade what they do in their personal time. This is also just a result of my own laid back personal philosophy.