Cannabis Included on NFL ‘Restricted List’ for Super Bowl Ads

The National Football League (NFL) is including cannabis in its restricted category for Super Bowl advertisements, which will prohibit industry commercials during the big game this Sunday, The Verge reports. The ban applies to all ads, including in states where cannabis is legal for adult use.

In 2019, CBS rejected a potential Super Bowl ad from Acreage Holdings that would have focused on the benefits of medical cannabis.

Juanjo Feijoo, COO of Weedmaps, told The Verge that it asked its ad agency to look into getting a spot during this year’s Super Bowl but the company was told “it was a blanket ‘no.’”

The game will be played at Los Angeles, California’s SoFi Stadium, and feature the stadium’s home team, the L.A. Rams. Cannabis is legal for adult use in California and the state is the largest cannabis market in the U.S.

Weedmaps has released a digital ad focused on cannabis censorship, featuring “Brock Ollie” – a broccoli character who bemoans his likeness being used as a substitute for cannabis as the broccoli emoji is often used to represent cannabis online.

A 2022 version of the NFL’s restricted ads list is not available, however, the 2017 list includes bans on contraceptives; dietary and nutritional products not approved by the Food and Drug Administration; distilled spirits; establishments that feature nude or semi-nude performers; weapons; fireworks; gambling; male enhancement products; pornography and escort services; social cause and issue advocacy advertising, unless otherwise approved in advance by the league; and tobacco products. The league did revise its list in 2017 to allow distilled spirits, the report says, and notes that this year’s ad lineup includes cryptocurrencies and a spot from sports betting site Draft Kings, the second year the NFL will allow the gambling company to advertise.