The T-Mobile Super Bowl ad featuring Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg was designed to elicit some giggles as the “Queen of Living Well” dropped a slew of weed puns in 3o seconds while the rap artist/ganjapreneur sat on a couch.
T-Mobile understood that the commercial would not be for everybody. But was the phone carrier expecting a potential boycott?
The ad begins with Stewart extolling the virtues of T-Mobile’s services, prompting Snoop to reply: “You might even say it’s all that and a bag of . . . ”
And then Stewart began her litany puns:
- “Purple, cushy throw pillows”
- “Herb-roasted lamb chops.”
- “Greenery … for your topiary garden”
- “Pot”
- “Can of bisque”
Fairly mild stuff that even the network censors approved. But one Missouri mom did not approve. Since the airing of the spot, she has organized a petition drive to boycott T-Mobile.
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According to Parents Opposed to Pot, an anti-marijuana group whose tagline is “bursting the bubble of marijuana hype” :
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.
The website, which claims cannabis is “as addictive as cocaine and heroin” quoted Kevin Sabet, a well-known anti-legalization crusader:
“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.”
Sabet runs Smart Approaches to Marijuana, another anti-legalization group which lists Parents Opposed to Pot as a partner group.
Last year, the parents group posted a story titled “10 Reasons Not To Date A Stoner.” No. 7: Activists Like To Cause A Racket.
As of this writing, the boycott petition has 135 supporters in 16 days. The group has a goal of 1,000 signees.
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