The Super Bowl won’t be lit: no cannabis ads allowed

If a brand wants to reach — or offend — a large swath of Americans all at once, there are few better venues than a Super Bowl ad. There are plenty of brands advertising this year that wouldn’t have been allowed in the big game just a few years ago, such as hard liquor or sports betting apps. This year’s ad lineup even includes ads for cryptocurrencies, a product still far from the American mainstream despite what your laser-eyed Twitter followers may tell you.

But one so-called “lifestyle” product — cannabis — is once again shut out from the Super Bowl this year, even though it’s legal in a majority of US states, and public support for legal weed has never been higher. Marijuana remains illegal at the federal level in the US, however, and cannabis ads — where they’re allowed — are typically restricted to audiences over 21.

So as you might expect, there won’t be any ads for cannabis products in this weekend’s Super Bowl. The National Football League has a “restricted” category for certain products, which applies not only to ads in the Super Bowl but to all NFL games, said spokesperson Alex Riethmiller. “Cannabis falls within that restricted category,” he said. [Read more at The Verge]