Smells like my teenage bedroom
Is pot so mainstream now that it's become a viable advertising ingredient?
In the last couple of days I saw 2 pieces that featured pot on 2 sites that are about 179 degrees away from each other. The first was on AdAge.com and the second was on one of my favorite blogs, Adrants.com.
The AdAge piece talked about how Showtime placed a marijuana-scented strip into the Aug. 24th issue of Rolling Stone to promote the show Weeds. Since the show (which I think is one of the best on TV) is about a suburban single mom who deals pot, I thought it was brilliant placement.
The Adrants piece talked about an ad in the LA Weekly for The Farmacy, a "medical marijuana" store, that's giving a 10% discount to anyone who uses the code "Got Medicine".
You know, I think every agency or client or t-shirt maker who uses the phrase "Got _______" should pay Goodby 100% of the revenue that they make off that product, service or t-shirt. Maybe that'll get the friggin' thieves to stop stealing ideas.
But, back to the pot issue. I have to be honest. I'm worried that ads that promote the coolness of smoking/dealing pot (Weeds) or the outright selling of pot (The Farmacy) will encourage kids to smoke pot.
Now, I know that's pretty hypocritical of me, since I used to toke now and then as a teenager and I don't think it adversely effected me (unless you count me growing up to be a copywriter instead of the author of the great American epic novel or a neurosurgeon). But it still bugs me.
What do you think? Is pot so mainstream now that it's fine to use in ads? And if it is, what kind of impact will that have?
In the last couple of days I saw 2 pieces that featured pot on 2 sites that are about 179 degrees away from each other. The first was on AdAge.com and the second was on one of my favorite blogs, Adrants.com.
The AdAge piece talked about how Showtime placed a marijuana-scented strip into the Aug. 24th issue of Rolling Stone to promote the show Weeds. Since the show (which I think is one of the best on TV) is about a suburban single mom who deals pot, I thought it was brilliant placement.
The Adrants piece talked about an ad in the LA Weekly for The Farmacy, a "medical marijuana" store, that's giving a 10% discount to anyone who uses the code "Got Medicine".
You know, I think every agency or client or t-shirt maker who uses the phrase "Got _______" should pay Goodby 100% of the revenue that they make off that product, service or t-shirt. Maybe that'll get the friggin' thieves to stop stealing ideas.
But, back to the pot issue. I have to be honest. I'm worried that ads that promote the coolness of smoking/dealing pot (Weeds) or the outright selling of pot (The Farmacy) will encourage kids to smoke pot.
Now, I know that's pretty hypocritical of me, since I used to toke now and then as a teenager and I don't think it adversely effected me (unless you count me growing up to be a copywriter instead of the author of the great American epic novel or a neurosurgeon). But it still bugs me.
What do you think? Is pot so mainstream now that it's fine to use in ads? And if it is, what kind of impact will that have?
posted by BillyD at 12:19 PM
1 Comments:
Personally, I think the need for weed is a sad commentary on the media in general. We've gone from the Wonder Years programming and Think Big advertising to the the Biggest Loser/Flava Flav/Fear Factor crap and advertising that --as always-- follows suit. (Notice that? How when TV is conceptual, so is its advertising. Now both are all about shock value.)
Regardless of lack of concept which is insulting enough, it seems our need to break through the clutter will have a definite impact on our poor children. And I surely don't want my baby Luke's first Scratch and Sniff to deliver a big whiff of pot.
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