Twitter announced last week that they have updated their marijuana advertising policy. They want to allow cannabis businesses who are “certified advertisers”, to include “packaged” products of cannabis in the creatives that are promoted on Twitter.
The company made headlines in February when it revised the marijuana policy. It opened up advertising opportunities to cannabis companies, allowing them promote their campaigns and brands, as well as link back to their website in certain legal states.
Certified advertisers are now able to show packaged cannabis products as part of their Twitter creative.
Plus, we’ve made some changes for medical licensees and opened up additional recreational markets
https://t.co/xrgGLZc99f https://t.co/ktNNijmr9a
Twitter Business (@TwitterBusiness April 25, 2020
Twitter now says that marijuana ads can feature “packaged cannabis products” in creatives. It’s unclear, however, if this means that photos of actual flowers or joints taken out of the packaging are also allowed.
The company has also stated that it “has made some changes for licensed medical users and opened up more recreational markets (some limitations apply)” but the short blog post announcing this new move didn’t provide any further details.
This expansion is partly a response to the criticism that Facebook has received over its initial update.
Alexa Alianiello is a member of Twitter’s U.S. Sales and Partnerships team, and she leads the company’s cannabis ads initiative. In a blog post published on Tuesday, Alianiello said that Twitter has seen “many cannabis and ancillary businesses run ad campaign, bringing together our platform, the value of the audience, and the innovative products emerging within the cannabis space.”
The cannabis community asked. The cannabis community asked. We listened and updated our advertising policy.
Advertisement for packaged product
Medical legal markets
Additional Recreational Legal Markets
We keep it rolling
https://t.co/cNnZNU3h8i
Alexa Alianiello 25 April 2023 HTML0
She said that “we have gathered valuable feedback from the cannabis sector which we have taken into account to create more opportunities.” The latest update allows “certified advertisers to feature packaged cannabis products as part of ad creative.”
The post states.
Many marijuana industry stakeholders and supporters applauded Twitter’s opening of advertising opportunities for cannabis, a first under federal prohibition. However, there has been some frustration with the implementation.
Adam Terry, CEO at the cannabis beverage company Cantrip said earlier this year that Twitter’s tracking system didn’t initially calculate conversions into sales. And while it did eventually start tracking the number, it does not yet show the value.
1. Conversion tracking never worked. We initially didn’t receive any information despite correctly installing our pixel. Twitter started capturing conversions after a few weeks, but the value was not captured. You can’t calculate CAC if you don’t have this.
Adam Terry (@cantripguy April 17, 2019
He also stated that he had to wait a long time to receive support from Twitter, as the team did not appear to be communicating effectively internally to respond to feedback and concerns. Setting geographic parameters for advertising was also difficult.
4. The teams don’t connect. There are two people I can contact. They’re not connected to policy or engineering. So it’s “we’ll get back to you” every time. Response times are slow
Adam Terry (@cantripguy April 17, 2019
He said, “Now I’m sure we have gained brand exposure and sales that we would not have had without Twitter.” “Speculatively, we are about breakeven (which I can’t confirm because the conversion tracking system is broken), but I am ready to give up on Twitter ads.”
I now know that we’ve gotten exposure for our brand and made sales without Twitter. I can only speculate that we are about to break even on our spend, but I cannot confirm this because the conversion tracking system is broken. I’m ready to give up on Twitter ads.
Adam Terry (@cantripguy April 17, 2020
Kaliko Castille is the CEO of ThndrStrm Strategies, and the author of CannabisCMO – a cannabis marketing publication. He said that he has heard “various” versions of Terry’s issues. He said that the new ad policies “seems to be aimed at bigger players, rather than smaller operators,” who are in need of the most assistance.
This thread has been discussed in various ways about Twitter’s expansion into the #cannabis Industry.
The communication strategy and the partners featured during the launch seem to be geared towards the largest players, rather than the smaller operators that need the most assistance. https://t.co/mabQYKeUnZ
— Kaliko (@WizKaliko). 18 April 2023 HTML0
Some people have complained that it is too expensive to advertise marijuana brands on Twitter.
Twitter won’t approve weed companies for ads w/o the company committing to spend $5k per quarter on ads pic.twitter.com/s6fPvERKlU
Chris Becker
@chris_honeybee 24 April 2023
Alianiello, of Twitter, replied to all of these posts. She welcomed feedback and highlighted partnerships between key cannabis brands. She also said that high costs for marijuana advertising were “temporary”, and necessary, given the initial strong demand from the industry.
Today, you’ll find the most inclusive cannabis ads policy on social and we’ve opened the door to cannabis advertisers in a way… a href=”https://t.co/9X79nTsilo”>https://t.co/9X79nTsilo/a>. Today, you’ll find the most inclusive cannabis ads policy on social and we’ve opened the door to cannabis advertisers in a way… https://t.co/9X79nTsilo
Alexa Alianiello 18 April 2023 HTML0
She said, “As I mentioned before, our policy is continually reviewed and part of my role is to translate feedback from the market to our internal teams to further review,” earlier this month. Today, you will find the most inclusive policy for cannabis advertising on social media. We’ve also opened up the door to cannabis advertiser in a manner that no other platform has done before.
Google updated its cannabis advertising policies in January. Companies can now promote FDA-approved drugs that contain CBD as well as topical CBD product with less than 0.3 percent of THC.
Google limits the advertising opportunities for CBD products to California, Colorado, and Puerto Rico. Twitter’s policy previously prohibited advertising limited CBD products within seven specific states. This restriction appears to be removed.
the company ended its federal partnership not long after Elon Musk became Twitter’s CEO last year. The partnership had suggested that users searching for drug-related terms, such as “marijuana,” consider drug treatment. The same suggestion did not appear for searches involving “alcohol”.
Twitter’s new CEO has been criticized for the way in which his company has operated. Twitter users continue to complain about the interface after rounds of staff terminations and system updates. Twitter’s controversial decision by Musk to remove “verified” status from most “legacy users”, including journalists, has sparked further controversy.
Musk has repeatedly interjected himself into the marijuana debate, including on Twitter.
He was in hot water in 2018 for smoking a blunt in a podcast with Joe Rogan ( later claiming he had never inhaled the substance). This prompted a federal probe into his company SpaceX’s “workplace safety” and “adherence to a drugs-free environment”.
He responded to the tweets of his Telsa company’s shares hitting $420 with laughing laughing emojis, and said ‘Whoa…the stock price is so high.
In 2018, he also attracted the attention of federal Securities and Exchange Commission after he announced that he was contemplating taking Tesla private for $420 per share. The SEC called this announcement “false and deceptive” and said it was made without notifying regulators. Musk was not found liable for the tweet that was at issue in a recent lawsuit.
Texas House Approves Marijuana Bill for Initial Approval, Setting it Up for Final Passage in the Chamber
The post Again Twitter Updates Marijuana Advertising Policy, Allowing Businesses to Feature ‘Packaged Cannabis Products’ In Promoted tweets first appeared on Marijuana moment.
