Reader: The Marijuana Industry Needs Don Draper to Get the Word Out!

Marijuana needs an image makeover, this reader suggests. Is it time for the Don Draper of pot? For cannabis advertisements at Denver International Airport?

By Westword Staff

July 15, 2017

What is Don Draper smoking? Mad Men

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Since the first recreational marijuana stores opened on January 1, 2014, there's been considerable consolidation in the cannabis industry, with some homegrown stores now boasting more than a dozen locations. Does the business need more competition? Bruce McFarland thinks so, and writes:

Seems like the industry needs to hire Don Draper or some PR firm to get the word out. "Hey, everyone, bring your money to the Amsterdam of the Rockies!" Get an ad campaign to say, "The Pepsi Generation has 'grown' up and come into some real good shiite (sssp!) here."

Jagermeister can trick you into drinking cough syrup and becoming wrecked by the image of partying with a German frozen (frigid) lady. Someone needs to create some brand loyalty. Just as Ford and Chevy used to create rivalry, pot logos and advertising claims will start competition. Kids will brag, "My father smokes Bruce Bannon." Dispensaries will sponsor events like Ultimate Frisbee tournaments and the "Annual Pleiades Meteor Shower Star-Gazing Night."

Maybe there are regulations about advertising? This just seems like a clear case of drawing in the users of the product by pointing out where your shop is, what you have, what it costs and how great it will be to get some of the end product you're selling.

The market seems ripe and bringing all the usual resources to help consumerism kick-in should be utilized. Maybe put a thinly veiled come-on in a club-crowd-oriented publication's article referencing "competition in the industry." (?)

We know social media is where to find out the down-low. So pot's legal. Newsflash. Get the word out. Not just the dealer has to know, anymore. Put it on billboards ("Cops roll doobies"), TV commercials, airport murals at DIA. This stuff lifts the whole economy up. Let's move it.

"If you ain't closing, you ain't selling."

Do you think it's high time for marijuana billboards to appear at Denver International Airport? How would you like to see pot promoted in Colorado?

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