Marijuana has become a more popular drug as time goes on. With the legalization and recreational use of this drug, adolescents are beginning to see cannabis as a common drug. With marijuana being legal in some states, more and more people, not just adolescents, are participating in the use of this drug. Now there are middle-aged mothers smoking to relax after taking their child to school and businessmen sitting down for a smoke instead of a drink. As this drug becomes more popular, there are less negative stereotypes attached to this drug. Marijuana is an interesting drug because of its increased popularity and normality in the last decade. As time goes by, the stereotypes change and mold into the positive benefits. Even though that this drug is being used more recreational, marijuana does not have as many advertisements as other drugs. This advertisement is for the Compassionate Care Act in New York, which was an act passed to let people use marijuana medically in June of 2014. This advertisement explains that people with an illness do not have to suffer as much because of the passed act. There is also a little information about the website of Leafly on the bottom.

Leafly is the largest cannabis information website in the world since 2010. They specialize in informing cannabis users about strains, common questions, different methods of smoking, and knowledge about products. Leafly mainly focuses on digital marketing. In today’s society, almost everyone in America has a smart phone or access to a computer. Leafly’s smart marketing stagey is to keep most information on the website. According to Leafly.com in an article titled How to Market your Cannabis Business revised in 2017 by the Leafly staff, Leafly wants to keep communication between the brand and the audience online using blogs, articles, and websites (Leafly staff, 2017). A lot of companies have picked up this strategy because of the popularity of online use. The marijuana industry uses the same marketing styles as others; however, there are a few details that are different. Leafly takes advantage of creating interactive activities on their website. There is also an application for smart phones in case people want to take their questions about marijuana on the go. Sponsorship and collaboration is very important for an online business because the more people who know about the industry, the more the website will grow.

The intended audience for this advertisement is people who have an illness. Marijuana is known to help people who have cancer and other sicknesses with pain during their treatment. This was found on the Leafly website. By looking at this advertisement, there also seems to be a target age. Leafly is promoting their website to middle-aged Americans. People who would most likely will be seeing this advertisement are current cannabis users because Leafly posted the ad on their website.

           According to DrugAbuse.gov in an article titled What is Marijuana? by Nora D. Volkow in 2013, marijuana is a greenish-gray mixture of the dried flowers of Cannabis sativa (Volkow, 2013). The main chemical in this drug is called delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, which is also known as THC. THC is what causes the high while intoxicated with marijuana. There are many strains of marijuana, which means that there are different kinds of marijuana that have different affects. This drug also has many names. Some names include cannabis, weed, Mary Jane, skunk, pot, sticky icky, devil’s lettuce, wacky tabacky, and many more. People use this drug for many reasons. Along with medical use, marijuana is also used recreationally. There is a variety of ways to consume this drug. Smoking marijuana is the most popular way of consuming this drug. People smoke rolled leaves or in a piece such as a bong or a pipe. Marijuana can also be broken down and put in food. People take out the THC from the plant and then break it down into a form of fat such as butter. They then use the butter to bake sweets and other food. According to the same article by Volkow, marijuana can lead to dependency. Not many people become dependent on marijuana though. According to an article titled The Biggest Myths about Marijuana – Debunked by an Addiction Expert on Quartz website by Akshat Rathi in 2015, “Marijuana can affect the brain like other addictive substances by causing surges in certain chemicals, like dopamine, in the brain… Most who use marijuana do not become addicted to it. Published data say that 9% of adults and 17% of young people who use it become addicted” (Rathi, 2015). This advertisement did not mention the ingredients of the drug. They also did not include the negative aspects. This was mainly advertising a website. On they website there is very detailed informational articles and posts about the drug. For advertisements it is very important to state the side effects of whatever you are promoting so that the audience knows what they are doing to their body.

Leafly used advertising techniques for this promotion. “Just Say Know” is written in big letters to catch the eyes of the audience. This phrase does not have much detail because Leafly wants people to look into the ad more. There are also two attractive, white, middle-aged Americans on the advertisement. That is also a style of advertising. The addition of movement was also an eye catching effect. When writing in the strain bubbles, Leafly decided to write as little as possible, which is a good choice because no one would want to read a long and complicated paragraph about how different strains have different affects. Leafly finally gives the audience a little suspense because the advertisement states some information, but not all of the information. The audience has to go the Leafly.com to find out more about marijuana.

In my opinion, marijuana is not the worst drug in the world. Being a college student, I come across many different drugs. Marijuana is tame compared to other drugs such as cocaine, heroin, prescription drugs, and even alcohol. Marijuana calms the mind and relaxes me. I cannot complain about those effects. I would recommend this drug to my friends and family member. Cannabis has helped me with my anxiety and pain. I have done my research to become aware of the affects of the different substances I am taking. Overall, marijuana advertisements have misconceptions on them as do most advertisements.

References

Leafly Staff (2017). How to Market your Cannabis Business.  Retrieved from https://www.leafly.com/company/about

Rathi, Akshat (2015). The Biggest Myths about Marijuana – Debunked by an Addiction Expert. Retrieved from https://qz.com/528539/the-biggest-myths-about-marijuana-debunked-by-an-addiction-expert/

Volkow, Nora D. (2013). What is Marijuana? Retrieved from https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/marijuana/what-marijuana

Sadie Sullivan