Tag Archives: Martha Stewart

T-Mobile Under Fire for Superbowl Ad

Boycott T-Mobile for its Superbowl Ads

See T-Mobile ad here. Sign the petition here.   (Originally published in The Marijuana Report, February 15 edition)

In December, a grandmother protested the marketing of leggings printed with marijuana leaves to young toddlers. Now a group of angry parents is taking aim at T-Mobile, a larger target they say is trying to normalize drug use by targeting the message to children.

During the broadcast of Super Bowl LI on February 5, T-Mobile aired an ad with lifestyle guru Martha Stewart and rap artist Snoop Dogg (real name Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr.) during which the two bantered, making several not-so-veiled humorous references to marijuana.

Martha Stewart and Snoop Dog’s Potluck Dinner show on VH1 was used as the theme of a Superbowl ad for T-Mobile. It was seen by countless families with children, and parents see it as attempt to market marijuana — along with the cell phone use — to children.

The ad is meant to play off Stewart and Broadus’ VH1 reality show, “Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party,” a show geared to millennials that some reviewers concede is nothing more than an effort to normalize the use of marijuana.

Parents are not having it

During the Super Bowl, a T-Mobile ad ran with such references as ‘pot,’ ‘can o bisque,’ ‘greenery,’ and ‘purple cushions’ [Purple Kush is a popular strain of marijuana]. How much more of an attempt to normalize this to youngsters can you get? The Super Bowl is something whole families watch. This was the worst place to air a commercial like this UNLESS the goal was to make drug use a joke and get kids to think marijuana is ‘no big deal,’ “explained a Missouri mom who has had several friends lose children to drug abuse, including marijuana addiction.

She has organized a petition to boycott T-Mobile, understanding that she faces an uphill battle against a society that increasingly believes marijuana is not harmful.

However, she has the support of drug policy experts who have been warning of the same for years.  Drug policy expert Kevin Sabet, co-founder and President of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), explained, “Ads like this show exactly what the marijuana legalization movement is about—addiction for profit. Last year, tens of millions of pot lobby dollars bankrolled an initiative in California that would allow pot smoking ads to run on television.  Three months later, the same lobby promotes this ad during an event when millions of kids were watching.  It’s Big Tobacco all over again.”     (Originally published in The Marijuana Report, February 15 edition.)

See T-Mobile ad here. Sign the petition here.

Kennedy Forum Report Speaks Against Marijuana in Mental Health Report

Super Bowl Ad Makes the Message Clear and Relevant

The Kennedy Forum report on mental health and addiction was released to  the 115th Congress three weeks ago. In the report Patrick Kennedy clearly indicates that marijuana legalization is detrimental to public health. Parents Opposed to Pot maintains that by preventing the initiation of drug use, the United States could cut its mental health care needs by 30 percent.  Marijuana promotion is contributing to our current crisis.  The Kennedy Forum published the following in its report to the 115th Congress:

“In the absence of such a campaign, social media and other channels are inundated with dangerous and incorrect information about drugs of initiation, including alcohol and marijuana. A fact-based campaign reiterating the emerging science, and reinforcing other efforts in schools and communities, is imperative.”

“This is especially needed in the current environment which is legitimizing misuse of certain substances, particularly alcohol and marijuana. It is impossible to grapple with substance use and mental health disorders without tackling drugs of initiation, like alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana. Congress should resist efforts to legalize and further legitimize marijuana. Our nation cannot afford to make the same mistakes with marijuana that we made with legal opioids or tobacco in the past. Congress should put a stop to efforts to legitimize marijuana businesses (for example, by strictly regulating the capacity at which banks can have financial dealings with marijuana businesses), lest we inadvertently support and encourage another entity whose profit motivates conflict with the public health interest of preventing substance misuse and addiction.

“We also need increased accountability from the transnational corporations that generate over $200 billion in revenue each year from the sale of beer, wine and liquor in the United States. Alcohol marketing is ubiquitous in our society, seen everywhere from Super Bowl television commercials to 10-second vertical video ads on Snapchat Live stories………..”

Stop Marketing Addiction to Children

Patrick Kennedy’s observations were also true about marijuana during the recent Super Bowl featuring a T-Mobile commercial with Martha Stewart and Snoop Dog joking about marijuana.  Millions of children watched the program and saw this attempt to normalize and promote cannabis use.  Yet a Columbia University case study presents the fact that using marijuana only once or twice can precipitate mental illness.

Those who have lost loved ones to addiction and psychotic disorders are deeply offended by T-Mobile, Martha Stewart and Snoop Dog.   Such joking disguises the real dangers of using pot.  In Anatomy of an Epidemic, Robert Whitaker cites three studies indicating that bipolar disorder can be triggered by marijuana use.  Many psychiatrists even need re-training in addictive and psychotic disorders due to the popularity and increased potency of today’s marijuana.

Download the entire PDF here: Navigating The New Frontier of Mental Health and Addiction a guide for the 115th Congress