No happy puppies: Pot retailers face strict marketing rules, says Saskatoon ad man

No people — whether real or fictional — no animals and no fun being had: those are just some of the strict limitations facing Saskatchewan cannabis retailers as they navigate the federal government's rules for marketing legal pot to the public.

Jason Aebig recently became acquainted with the rules as laid out in the federal Cannabis Act.

His Saskatoon-based ad company, Creative Fire, has been tasked with creating marketing materials for two of Saskatchewan's 51 retailers.

"It's very bare bones," he said of what the legislation allows his company to do.

Companies can't use characters, real people, endorsements or advertorials to hawk cannabis, which differs from rules for beer advertisements, said Aebig.

While not able to show people actually drinking from a bottle, beer ads can show people at, say, a football game and end on a shot of a glistening beer bottle.

But in the cannabis advertising rules, "they even go so far as to [disallow] animals, believe it or not," said Aebig.

"If you wanted to put a happy puppy next to your cannabis, the puppy need not be consuming cannabis," he said, chuckling. 

No 'glamour, excitement, vitality'

The limitations even encompass the emotional tenor of ads. Marketing materials for cannabis can't give off "a positive or negative emotion about or image of a way of life such as one that includes glamour, recreation, excitement, vitality, risk or daring," according to the act.

Aebig said the rules are almost as "highly restricted" as those for cigarettes.

That's why stores will have to forget about the usual practice of trying to buy customer loyalty through advertising, he added.

"Most of it's going to turn on the customer experience that people get when they first enter these retail stores and the extent to which the retailer can build an ongoing relationship and affinity with those customers," said Aebig.

Taking the 'Cannabis' out of 'Jimmy's Cannabis' 

Prairie Sky Cannabis took no chances recently when putting up Saskatoon billboards for the "Jimmy's Cannabis" stores it plans to open in Moosomin, Battleford, Martensville and Estevan.

The company didn't even put the word "Cannabis" on them, it was so wary of breaking the rules.

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"The rules have been challenging because it has been left up to us to interpret the legislation," said Prairie Sky spokesperson John Thomas.

"Although there hasn't been much guidance respecting how we can advertise under C45, we are confident that our chosen avenues for advertisement fall within the rules."

At least five Saskatchewan cannabis retail stores are expected to open their doors on Oct. 17, the day it becomes legal for recreational users to purchase cannabis at a store.

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Inside their stores, retailers will also be subject to a number of rules from the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority on how they can deal with their customers.