Canadian cannabis businesses join forces to craft marketing rules

Sixteen Canadian marijuana businesses are banding together and have secured the help of the country’s advertising board to develop rules for how cannabis can be branded and promoted before adult-use sales begin next year.

The Financial Post reported that the licensed businesses have enlisted the help of Advertising Standards Canada to draft the guidelines as part of efforts to lobby the government. The industry is pushing for the right to brand and promote its own products.

The business owners are acting in response to a federal task force that recommended marijuana products only include a few basic details similar to the tobacco industry, including company name, price and cannabis strain.

The marijuana companies argue their effort will help distinguish their products from black market fare.

“We have to be able to differentiate ourselves from individual illegal marketers who are out there right now, that are branded to the hilt in these illegal dispensaries and aren’t going to abide by federal rules,” Cameron Bishop, director of government affairs at Privateer Holdings, told the Financial Post.