The Marijuana Policy Project is once again using a major sporting event to highlight its core “Marijuana is Safer” message. The group has purchased five billboards around New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium in the lead up to Sunday’s Super Bowl.
It remains to be seen what reaction – positive or negative – will be sparked by this campaign. Since legal recreational cannabis sales began in Colorado Jan. 1, marijuana has regularly appeared in national mainstream media stories.
A similar video advertisement ran a on a Jumbo Tron billboard outside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the NASCAR Brickyard 400 race.
That ad was removed after anti-drug groups complained, however not before it successful garnered nationwide mainstream media attention.
In addition to promoting marijuana as a safer alternative to alcohol, the current campaign also targets the NFL’s policy against allowing players to consume marijuana.
For this campaign, MPP’s Communications Director Mason Tvert extended the Safer message to the game of football itself. “Taking a big hit of marijuana poses less potential harm than taking a big hit from an NFL linebacker or a big shot of tequila,” he said in a press release.
