Twitter’s New Policy Allows Ads for Cannabis, THC products in the USA

There are some big changes happening over at Twitter, in case you hadn’t already heard. A new announcement made today is particularly meaningful for cannabis companies and consumers in the USA. Effective immediately, Twitter is allowing advertisers to promote brand preference and informational cannabis-related content for the following product and service categories:

Twitter’s New Cannabis Policy

Up until now, only CBD topical brands were permitted to advertise on Twitter’s platform. Moving forward – the social network will allow for the promotion of regulated THC and CBD-containing cannabis products, accessories, services and more. 

American cannabis companies, brands and purveyors will need to pass through a Twitter advertiser approval process to ensure they are legitimate and educated on the platform. Once approved, industry marketers will have access to Twitter’s entire suite of advertising products including promoted tweets, promoted product opportunities, location-specific takeovers, in-stream video sponsorships and partner publication features. 

These services will be self-managed by the cannabis company, meaning that ensuring compliance with state-level regulation falls on to the marketer. Location-specific and age-gated targeting will be available for brands to ensure they are compliant with all laws and regulations. 

Read Twitter’s updated cannabis advertising policy here.

A New Frontier for Cannabis Brands

Historically, cannabis brands have been barred from participating in any sort of traditional or social media ad buy. Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok are viciously anti-cannabis, frequently censoring 420-related posts and accounts. Paid advertising has been restricted across all of these platforms for essentially anything that pertains to cannabis. Some Out Of Home advertising is permitted in certain states but these ads are costly and the ROI is often hard to measure. Other than SEO tactics, email marketing and native social media content – cannabis brands do not have many options for promoting their products. 

At ADCANN, we commend Twitter for making a brave move and creating a new advertising avenue for cannabis marketers. This policy change helps further the mainstream acceptance of cannabis as a plant, a substance and an industry. Twitter treating cannabis like any other regulated CPG category will hopefully encourage other social networks, marketing platforms and government regulatory agencies to do the same.

Twitter’s Cannabis Policy in Canada

In Canada, where cannabis has been federally legal since 2018, Twitter already allows cannabis advertising through their platform. Licensed Producer brands including Cronos Group’ Spinach Cannabis, FIGR, Spectrum Therapeutics (Canopy Growth’s medical cannabis program) and Kingsway and Daily Special (via Aurora Cannabis) among many others have utilized the program for paid ads. See various campaign examples below. Canadian cannabis brands and marketers can learn more about Twitter and social media marketing in our free Cannabis Brand Marketing Guide.

Twitter and Cannabis Marketing

Sources inside Twitter have confirmed that in the past year, there were over 20 million tweets about cannabis topics, which is more conversation surrounding the topic of cannabis than there was about coffee, golf, the NHL, and other mainstream industries. This signals a large amount of interest and engagement for cannabis products and services among Twitter’s user base. 

Earlier this month on February 4th, Elon Musk (CEO of Twitter) tweeted three numbers: “420”. This was evidently a foreshadowing of things to come as the company has now become the leading social platform for cannabis and cannabis industry marketers.

Are you a cannabis brand looking to advertise on Twitter?

Twitter is also currently running an ad incentive exclusively for cannabis brands from now through 3/31 – a 1:1 value add match up to $250K.