Three-quarters (74%) of respondents said they would support companies that do not sell marijuana to promote their brand in an aligned way with the 4/20 festivities.
While there are typically deals and marketing stunts within the state-legal cannabis industry around 4/20, a growing number of companies that aren’t directly related to marijuana—from dog toy makers to fast food chains—have also seized the opportunity to play into cannabis culture.
NuggMD, a cannabis-telehealth platform, found that cannabis lovers appreciate this gesture. 76 percent said they love it when businesses other than marijuana do promotional activities around Halloween because cannabis “should be mainstream.”
However, for the 24 percent that remain, these marketing tactics are seen as being “patronizing” and “offensive.”
Andrew Graham is the head of NuggMD’s communications. He told MEDCAN24, that these data “suggest that cannabis could be a space that brands other than those that use marijuana can feel safe in. This development would benefit anyone with a stake or interest in legalization.”
He said that “Politics are almost always downstream of culture and brands and tech platforms set much the agenda for popular culture today.” DoorDash changing their policy to include hemp-derived THC as part of its product line is a good example of non-cannabis brands enacting policy changes that support cannabis and victims of criminalization.
He added: “The legalization campaign needs to be more aggressive, and the 20th of April is an excellent time for testing, launching, or promoting these kinds of changes.” According to the poll, three out of four respondents agreed that cannabis is a mainstream product. Brands can help get it there—and there are 36m frequent U.S. cannabis consumers there to market to for the brands that get it.”
This survey included interviews of 277 marijuana users from 3 to 13 April, and a margin of error or 5.9 percent points.
This year has seen a few polls that have looked at the consumer behaviour in the marijuana industry.
A survey conducted last week revealed that the half of U.S. cannabis consumers expect to consume more marijuana under Trump’s administration.
The findings seem to comport with another recent poll that showed cannabis consumers self-reporting higher levels of stress since Trump was inaugurated compared to the overall population.
Relatedly, another poll from February found that nearly 7 in 10 American marijuana consumers say they plan to spend either more on cannabis or about the same amount in 2025 compared to last year.
NuggMD also recently released a survey that found two out of three marijuana consumers say they’ve had to make the decision to spend less money on cannabis because of broader inflation in the economy.
Meanwhile, another poll from January found that more than half of marijuana consumers say they drink less alcohol, or none at all, after using cannabis.
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