Even though the cannabis legalization movement has made great strides and seen historical wins within the last few years, there still exists an antiquated, prohibitionist-inspired stigma in some people’s minds. Because of this, advertising for cannabis-related businesses of any kind doesn’t get the fair shake that those in other industries do. It’s mostly large corporations that hold this mindset, but even some small businesses follow suit. We’ve discussed in the past how the ad policies of tech giant Google ban medical cannabis companies from promoting themselves on Google’s various platforms. We’ve covered the NFL’s hypocrisy when it comes to players using medical weed. Recently, another large American corporate sports entity took their turn showing their true prohibitionist colors. This time around, it was NASCAR’s turn to prevent the ads of a cannabis company.
Racer Carl Long hasn’t been in a proper race since 2009. He was denied entry into the race at Kansas Speedway last week, keeping him out of another race. All potential car sponsors have to be approved by NASCAR’s sanctioning body. Apparently, the body didn’t like Long’s marijuana-related sponsor, and so his entry into the race was denied because his car featured a sponsorship from the Denver-based company Veedverks. According to their website, Veedverks offers indica, sativa and “hybrid experiences”. Veedverks claims that their products are legal in all fifty states.
The big news out of the race at Kansas Speedway was that racer Aric Almirola fractured his back in a fiery crash that looked pretty scary. The attention of most race fans was fixated on this crash, and so the denial of Long’s weed company sponsor gained little attention from most fans.
NASCAR, like the NFL and most other major American sports organizations, has historically had no problem with racers plastering their cars with various alcohol and beer advertisers. But a racer with a car that promotes the devil’s lettuce? To them, that’s still a big no-no, because such evil advertisers ‘might be detrimental to the brand’. Forget the fact that a large number of racing fans use cannabis, and probably were under the influence at the race at Kansas Speedway last week.
This is yet another example of the hypocrisy of sports leagues and corporations on display. With around sixty percent of American voters now in favor of outright legal cannabis at the federal level, it’s almost hard to believe these sports leagues and corporations would blatantly choose to deny the lucrative cash flow that has been coming from the Green Rush.
