Rejected Super Bowl Cannabis Commercial Surfaces on YouTube

After getting denied for an ad spot during the Super Bowl, a commercial advocating for marijuana legalization was published online.

The 60-second tv spot was created by Acreage Holdings (CSE:ACRG), a multi-state operator (MSO) of cannabis assets in the US, as a way to launch a campaign asking for the full legalization in the US.

“Please call your US representative or US senator to advocate for change now,” the commercial, which was uploaded to YouTube, read near the end.

The video has over 50,000 views at the time of this writing and was published on Thursday (January 24).

The commercial was officially rejected from airing by the CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS), the network with the rights to this year’s Super Bowl, according to Acreage.

The ad depicts three cases of medical marijuana patients using products for the the treatment of seizures, as an opioid replacement and for pain management.

In a statement emailed to the Investing News Network, Kevin Murphy, CEO of Acreage, said the commercial was made to advocate for offering patients cannabis medicine.

“We chose to launch the campaign on the nation’s greatest stage – the Super Bowl,” said Murphy. “CBS’ decision to reject the campaign represents the exact issue we are tackling – that federal law translates to no access to the medicine or even education about it.”

As one of the most watched television events of the year, the Super Bowl attracted 103.4 million viewers last year according to Variety.

Sports Illustrated reported an NBC Sports executive saying the average cost for a 30-second commercial during last year’s Super Bowl was over US$5 million.

“It’s hard to compete with the amount of attention something gets when it airs during the Super Bowl,” Acreage president George Allen told Bloomberg.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Bryan Mc Govern, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.