With the cannabis holiday 4/20 quickly approaching this weekend, a new poll finds that three in four consumers support non-marijuana companies promoting their brands in a way that aligns with the festivities.
While there are typically deals and marketing stunts within the state-legal cannabis industry around 4/20, a growing number of companies that aren’t directly related to marijuana—from dog toy makers to fast food chains—have also seized the opportunity to play into cannabis culture.
The survey from the cannabis telehealth platform NuggMD found that cannabis enthusiasts appreciate the gesture, with 76 percent of respondents saying they “love it” when non-marijuana businesses do promotions around the holiday, because “cannabis should be mainstream.”
For the remaining 24 percent, however, such marketing ploys are viewed as “patronizing and offensive.”
Andrew Graham, head of communications at NuggMD, told Marijuana Moment that the data “suggests that cannabis can be a brand-safe space for non-cannabis brands, which is a positive development for anyone who has a vested interest in the legalization movement.”
“Politics is almost always downstream from culture, and the brands and tech platforms people use set much of the popular culture agenda today,” he said. “DoorDash changing its policy to accommodate hemp-derived THC is a great example of a non-cannabis brand enacting a policy change that directly supports the cannabis industry and, to some degree, victims of cannabis criminalization.”
“The legalization movement needs more of that, and April 20 is a great time to test, launch, or promote those kinds of changes,” he added. “Like three in four of this poll’s respondents said: Cannabis should be mainstream. Brands can help get it there—and there are 36m frequent U.S. cannabis consumers there to market to for the brands that get it.”
The survey involved interviews with 277 marijuana consumers from April 3-13, with a 5.9 percentage point margin or error.
There have been a number of polls released so far this year that examine consumer behavior in the marijuana market.
For example, a survey released last week found that half of U.S. marijuana consumers say they expect to use more cannabis under the Trump administration than they have before.
The findings seem to comport with another recent poll that showed cannabis consumers self-reporting higher levels of stress since Trump was inaugurated compared to the overall population.
Relatedly, another poll from February found that nearly 7 in 10 American marijuana consumers say they plan to spend either more on cannabis or about the same amount in 2025 compared to last year.
NuggMD also recently released a survey that found two out of three marijuana consumers say they’ve had to make the decision to spend less money on cannabis because of broader inflation in the economy.
Meanwhile, another poll from January found that more than half of marijuana consumers say they drink less alcohol, or none at all, after using cannabis.
With the cannabis holiday 4/20 quickly approaching this weekend, a new poll finds that three in four consumers support non-marijuana companies promoting their brands in a way that aligns with the festivities. While there are typically deals and marketing stunts within the state-legal cannabis industry around 4/20, a growing number of companies that aren’t directly Read More
