Weedmaps: #SaveBrockOllie

Weedmaps, a tech company that serves the legal marijuana industry, created a public relations campaign #SaveBrockOllie, after being barred from Super Bowl advertising in the United States.

The situation

The 2022 Super Bowl broadcast featured ads for beer, hard seltzer, crypto, sports betting and other mature themes and products. And yet, despite this year's Super Bowl taking place in California — where cannabis has been legal recreationally since 2016 and medically for two decades — Weedmaps, an online marketplace for cannabis users and businesses, was unable to run an advertisement on the big game.

Like other companies in the cannabis space, Weedmaps is no stranger to the arcane and paradoxical restrictions on its ability to market to consumers. So when Weedmaps' request to purchase TV ad space...

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