First medical marijuana commercial did not actually air on major networks despite recent rumors

Twenty states have currently had the use of medical marijuana legalized and using marijuana for medical purposes is making quite the uprising. It’s being talked about constantly on the news and it seems people are really excited about this change our country is making to help those who are sick and can truly benefit from the legalization.

Earlier this week, Time announced that a new commercial from MarijuanaDoctors.com would be aired in the very near future and that it would be the first ever medical marijuana business commercial to air on major networks.

With the release of this ad, CEO of the MarijuanaDoctors.com Company admits that it took a lot to have this accepted by major networks like FOX, CNN and ESPN in some states. The CEO said, “Over the past decade, we have been rejected by countless TV networks and billboard companies.” He hopes this ad will be a memorable one that will prove times are changing, in a good way.

These announcements about the press release, though, are completely false! On March 4, news sites like ABC and The Verge announced that the commercial was aired on Fox, CNN, ESPN, Comedy Central, AMC and Discovery, as well as other networks in New Jersey and Chicago, on Monday, March 3.

A press release was published about Comcast that day, as well, with the claim of “the first time that any ‘major’ U.S. network has ever allowed the advertising of a medical marijuana service.” But according to CNN, this claim was completely false and the ads never actually aired. Comcast Spotlight never agreed to airing this commercial and after it was posted to YouTube, the company distributed a fake press release claiming a “first,” which was hard for journalists to resist reporting about.

USA Today also inaccurately reported that Comcast agreed to run this ad on local cable systems in New Jersey, Massachusetts and Chicago to promote this service linking people to get their medical marijuana legally from doctors through prescriptions. The ad would appear on major networks, except networks for children, between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. only.

On Wednesday, spokeswoman Jennifer Khoury confirmed that all of these reports were false. “The ad has not appeared on Comcast Spotlight and media reports and press releases to the contrary are incorrect,” she said. What has happened is that MarijuanaDoctors.com published the press release before getting a final approval for airing the ad. “All commercials are subject to final review by Comcast Spotlight prior to airing and during that process it was determined that the spot did not meet our guidelines,” Khoury said.

The CEO of MarijuanaDoctors.com had his representatives call to say that Comcast hadn’t aired the ads at all. This promoted them to write a new press release and they acknowledged that, “the campaign had not, in fact, launched” and that they were going to get to the bottom of this situation.

The one-minute ad features a dealer trying to sell sushi on the street, wearing a trench coat filled with the raw fish. “You wouldn’t buy your sushi from this guy,” the voice of the ad says. “So why would you buy your marijuana from him?” The point of the commercial is to promote those who need the drug for health reasons to get it in a safe and medically legal way, instead of buying it off the street.

The ad can be seen on YouTube and may eventually be seen on major networks, but the ad has not been approved yet.

Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

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