Increasingly large swathes of the public now view cannabis in a favourable light. Cannabis-focused businesses are developing strategies to further strengthen its positive image, potentially bringing total acceptance ever closer. Mainstream companies too are realizing its value and are seeking ways to capitalize on it.

Disguise or exploit the stoner subculture?

Cannabis marketing appears to be becoming “mainstreamized” in two primary ways: firstly, business concerns that are fully focused on cannabis are increasingly tailoring their marketing towards a wider and more heterogeneous audience; secondly, large and well-known companies that traditionally have had nothing whatsoever to do with cannabis are beginning to recognize its value and profitability in today’s marketplace and have incorporated it into their product ranges and strategies.

Cannabis industry members are increasingly attempting to distance themselves from the stereotypical stoner image (© Don Hankins)

Strangely, techniques seem to be diverging somewhat between the two camps. In the former camp,...