Medical Cannabis Ad Set for Super Bowl Sunday Banned by CBS (Watch it here!)

We recently came across the story of CBS banning a cannabis ad by Acreage Holdings that was set to be played during the Super Bowl.

When presented to the television broadcast network, CBS said no. “Sorry. We don’t do cannabis ads.” Even if they are ads in the tune of $5 million.

When we first saw this story online, we sort of just brushed by it thinking it was probably a recreational cannabis ad for where recreational cannabis is legal for adult use and they don’t want to be promoting that to kids.

Okay, we get it. It makes sense even though it’s a little hypocritical seeing as they’re going to be playing tons of alcohol ads during the Super Bowl like they always do and alcohol has been shown to be much more dangerous to your health than cannabis when used in high amounts.

In fact, a large new study suggests that alcohol was a leading factor of death for people between the ages of 15-49 worldwide in 2016.

A 2017 study points not only to previous research that viewing advertisements for alcohol not only increases the likelihood that adolescents will start to drink as well as the frequency at which baseline drinkers will consume alcohol, but also that “parents should consider whether it is appropriate for their children to watch a concentrated number of intense images containing references to alcohol and violence during this event.”

So despite this, alcohol ads accounted for 13% of ads in the 2017 Super Bowl.

Maybe the cannabis ad CBS rejected was portraying a bunch of people getting high in a social situation? We could see how that might be rejected.

But then we took a closer look at the actual ad itself.

And it had nothing to do with recreational weed. At all.

The ad itself features three different people. All of who have significantly benefited from medical cannabis.

A child who experienced dozens to hundreds of seizures each and every day, who didn’t respond to other treatments.  

A man who has undergone three back surgeries and was on opioids for 15 years, who says it was “a very dark, very depressive time” of his life.  

A US veteran severely injured in combat who suffers from chronic pain and is adamant about his “brothers and sisters who have sacrificed so much for this country have access to the safest treatment possible.”

So why did CBS ban the ad?

We can’t quite figure it out.

Nowhere in this ad is recreational cannabis promoted.

Instead, in just about a minute’s time, it shows how medical marijuana has helped these individuals who weren’t helped by conventional medication for their own issues.

We want people to see this.

How far behind the times is CBS really?

Seriously, why would you not air this ad?

Obviously it’s up to them to decide what to show their viewers. And we do understand that they may have an issue with cannabis being still illegal at the federal level. We think this will change soon — the CEO of Acreage agrees.

But we couldn’t find much harm in this ad. We would like to hear your thoughts too in the comments below. 

The ad has nothing to do with recreational weed whatsoever.

Instead it highlights the lives of three very real people whose lives have been positively impacted by medical marijuana. These people aren’t using marijuana to get high. They’re using it to get medicated.

You can watch the BANNED ad here.

And please, drop us a comment below about what you think. We’d love to hear your opinion.

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