A first-of-its-kind commercial for marijuana sales airs in New Jersey this week
By Curt Cramer
The nation’s first commercial for weed appears this week, starting over the past weekend on Saturday.
More precisely, the ads are aimed at connecting doctors licensed to prescribe marijuana to medical-marijuana patients, particularly in New Jersey markets. The company responsible is MarijuanaDoctors.com, and their commercial runs in late night television slots with Comcast (the nation’s largest cable provider) on channels including AMC, CNBC, Comedy Central, Bravo and the Food Network. The ads will air about 800 times, between 10pm and 5am, over two weeks.
The ad features a humorously sketchy, street-character, slinking around an alleyway offering sushi out to anyone wanting to buy.
“Yo, you want sushi? I got sushi, I got the best sushi”, the man says as the camera cuts to him opening his jacket, revealing his many offerings of the raw fish cuisine. “You buy some sashimi, I’ll throw in the rice paper, man, totally free!”
A female voiceover then cuts over the activity between him and shifty-eyed buyers moving quickly along with sales saying, “You wouldn’t buy your sushi from this guy, so why would you buy your marijuana from him?”. She then proceeds to explain the mission of MarijuanaDoctors.com, which is to connect patients to practicians via search engine, that can make “medical marijuana recommendations”. In New Jersey, patients need a doctor’s prescription to get the drug from one of the state’s three dispensaries.
Jason Draizin, CEO of the company, chose to launch the campaign in New Jersey because of the infancy of the medical marijuana program there, limited to patients with terminal and debilitating illnesses. Nine of the website’s listings of 450 doctors and 500 clinics are based in New Jersey.
“We wanted to make the marketplace aware of the appointment-booking service” he told NJ.com. He continued to say the website is free for patients to use, as the doctors are the ones who pay fees to be listed on the site.
“We recognize that the sale and use of marijuana is still considered very controversial and we are pleased that Comcast understands that there are legitimate businesses providing legitimate and legal services to people who have legitimate needs,” Draizin stated in a press release, approving of Comcast’s business relations.
After airing in New Jersey for the allotted two weeks, the advertising will then be moved to the Massachusetts market, and then Chicago. A print and online campaign is also in the works.
-Medical marijuana is legal in 20 states and Washington D.C.
-Colorado, and the state of Washington have approved sales of marijuana for recreational use.
-Curt Cramer(@CurtisRemarc)
