Somebody once said that advertising is not necessary, unless you want to make money. Like Washington and Colorado, Oregon will restrict advertising options for marijuana businesses. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) is currently writing advertising rules for Oregon’s recreational marijuana program. The new rules may be similar to the OLCC’s advertising regulations for liquor; or,
Last month, two pieces of legislation were introduced to the legislature that could substantially alter Washington State’s advertising laws: HB 2350 and HB 2321. Each bill would tighten advertising restrictions for cannabis businesses, particularly with regard to advertising that could appeal to youth. Both bills were filed pre-session, and both already have moved into the
Cannabis business owners in Washington State need to have a solid grasp on the Washington State Liquor Control Board’s advertising requirements, particularly as they ramp up their branding and marketing efforts as competition increases. Below is a breakdown of the eight most important advertising restrictions currently imposed under Washington State law: If you are a
It’s becoming more and more common for companies in all industries to use social media “influencers” to promote their goods and services online. Influencer advertising in the cannabis industry is a particularly risky idea because paid advertisers need to comply with all cannabis marketing and advertising rules. It goes without saying that social media influencers
In Miller/Coors Sings the Blues over Craft Beer Lawsuit, All About Advertising Law discusses a recent deceptive advertising lawsuit against Miller/Coors. The lawsuit alleges Miller/Coors seeks to mislead the public into believing that its Blue Moon beer is a “craft” beer, in part through its intentional omission of the Miller/Coors name from product labels. The article discusses
A few weeks ago, I wrote a Hemp/CBD litigation forecast in which I predicted that at some point a CBD company will make use of the Lanham Act by claiming that a competitor is engaging in false or misleading advertising. (See here). In that post I promised to go into the Lanham Act in further
On Friday, one of Portland’s best ad agencies, Sockeye, launched a video advertising campaign for a marijuana beverage. The beverage is called “Legal,” manufactured by one of our long-time clients, Mirth Provisions. While we seldom blog about clients, the catchy ad (which quickly rang up over 7,000 views) got people talking about the nexus
I was recently interviewed by KPLU regarding a new series of billboards and banners around Seattle paid for by an I-502 production and processing company. This interview came on the heels of the historic full-page Leafly ad in the New York Times. Without a doubt, marijuana advertising is taking off and many marijuana entrepreneurs and
Our cannabis lawyers been asked several times in the past couple of weeks whether we have any opinion on a Washington Superior Court decision that came out earlier this month that grappled with the interplay of government regulation and commercial free speech. There’s no copy of that Superior Court opinion available online, but in this
As California prepares to vote to legalize recreational cannabis on election day, opponents of Proposition 64 continue to raise concerns that legalization will lead to increased public consumption of marijuana due to Prop 64’s “lax rules on marketing.” These opponents cite to reports, such as the one released by the UCSF Center for Tobacco Research
