CBS Drops Super Bowl Cannabis Commercial

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]A[/dropcap]ccording to cannabis producer Acreage Holdings, CBS television network rejected a Super Bowl advertisement calling for the legalization of cannabis, which would have aired for Super Bowl LIII on Feb. 3. Acreage Holdings is backed by former Speaker of the House John Boehner.

The ad that was proposed covers two subjects who have benefited from medical cannabis, a veteran with combat injuries and a child suffering from seizures. It was not meant as an advertorial pitch, but as an infomercial with a call to legalize cannabis. The company put together a storyboard and submitted it to the CBS team that buys ads. They received a rejection almost immediately.

Acreage President George Allen told Time Magazine that Super Bowl airtime is among the most coveted and useful slots for advertisements. “It’s hard to compete with the amount of attention something gets when it airs during the Super Bowl,” Allen said. “We certainly thought there was a chance. You strike when the chance of your strike has the probability of success—this isn’t a doomed mission.”

Super Bowl ads are not cheap by anyone’s standards. Typical Super Bowl ads run about $5 million for 30-second slot. As Acreage Holdings went public in Canada, recently, the company can afford it. Acreage Holdings now boasts a market value of over $2.4 billion. It operates in 15 states. With Boehner serving as a member of the company’s board of directors, it is a company that should be taken seriously.

According to sources that spoke to Variety, CBS, NBCUniversal, Fox Broadcasting and Viacom are among networks that automatically reject cannabis-related ads. Other than cannabis, other sensitive companies like PornHub had Super Bowl ads rejected in the past.

It’s only a matter of time until television networks begin accepting money from cannabis businesses. Acreage Holdings and other companies are pushing harder for the federal legalization of medical cannabis to increase patient access.