Why effect-based cannabis marketing is mostly smoke and mirrors

Unpredictability is one of the major challenges when buying cannabis. Having a fully customized and controlled experience with weed is incredibly rare, and even harder to replicate. may seem too large.

Many of these new products are positioned to solve typical life problems, such as solving sleep deprivation, stimulating appetite, or relieving pain in general. Since cannabis isn’t regulated by the FDA, manufacturers can’t promise direct health benefits, but some brands love to speculate.

Oversimplified marketing confuses consumers and promotes the myth that CBD is the panacea and THC is the key to creativity. The intent is to help people get interested in and enjoy cannabis, but they tend to group their products into boxes, too neat to include all the unknowns in today’s cannabis science.

All debate about weed and its effects is dominated by an oft-repeated and sometimes unspoken truth.Research has not yet caught up with reality. 2020 Science Review found that two-thirds of the $1.56 billion spent on cannabis research in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom was spent on quantifying misuse and adverse effects.It leaves research to advantage Other potential uses for cannabis are woefully underfunded, Big (and often misleading) media headlines about the dangers of drugs. On the other hand, those with legitimate medical needs have few options other than DIY experimentation.

fill the gap

In the absence of science, marketing stepped in and guessed the missing piece, giving birth to an effect-driven product class. As the weed market moves away from the traditional tie-dye aesthetic to sleek, modern designs, the same principles that influence many of our non-weed purchases are at work.

Given that photographer and author Jordana Wright has written an entire book about using your high to make better art, it’s also why cannabis marketers have tried to highlight its impact on your activity. No wonder. Unfortunately, Wright said in an email, “Cannabis isn’t like the typical pharmaceuticals we’re used to, where the results are pretty predictable.”

Weed doesn’t give you creative energy, but you can’t predict how one person will react to it, so claims that a particular strain is “good for creativity” are largely meaningless. cannabis products have value,” said Wright, but “it remains to be seen whether the effects described on the packaging match your body’s own reactions. If the intention has some effect. “

Brands approach this kind of single-focused marketing with a bit of reverse engineering. Made with Broken Cannabinoid Distillates Terpenes are added to create a compound concentrate that is then dropped into foods, capsules, beverages, vape carts and even rolled into joints. This means that the experience will be the same each time you use it.

Sure, you may notice similarities each time you use an artificial product, but your body still behaves differently based on other factors such as your weight, your food intake that day, and other medications you’re taking. There is little guarantee that you will have the same experience twice in a row, not to mention that the effects can be universalized across all users.

“At the research stage of writing cannabis for creativesI spoke to experts in the fields of neuroscience and cannabis genetics. We agreed that it varied too much based on other factors, a predictable and quantifiable result,” said Wright. It all depends on what you’re looking for from the experience and how specific the intended effect is, whether it’s single or multiple strains.

“circlee is marketing [the] The package is applied to us to create that feeling, but in that case we are seeing more of the placebo effect. “Smoking Blue Dream may always cheer you up, but the same tension may calm others down. It’s as much about our bodies as the strain itself. “

Suggesting an effect is the middle ground

Not all growers go all out Sarah Aziz, fSundazed Underis a cannabis dealer in California that produces highly flavorful goodies in luxurious packaging. how I feel, but how do you suggest Might be so. Not all consumers are thrilled with terpenesor knowing why they should, use these flavorful, experience-affecting chemicals to map what consumers should do can Experience helps more than taking a firm stance and picking one word as the decisive effect.

“THC affects areas of the brain that affect pleasure, thinking, movement and sensation/time perception among others,” Aziz told Lifehacker..The reason we use the term ‘effect’ is to communicate as clearly as possible to the consumer and to align with the experience they are about to enjoy. “

For Sundazed, this means labeling sativa-leaning strains with citrine terps.Grow up” Inform smokers of the effects. was suggestedsays it may feel motivated, elated, or energized, as people often report “Up” from a variety with citrus notes. “The listed effects are based on terpenes, so they are science-based, but also a way to market the expected response to the product, as many consumers don’t want to get to the heart of the terpenes.said Aziz.

If you don’t know what you are doing, can Using these suggestions, There’s nothing wrong with preferring distillate-based cannabis products if you’re always having a good time. However to find Stock or Designer Effects Based Products works for you, you really have to try them. Some people find themselves generally docile with most stocks, but the more sensitive need to be more picky about what they source.

Finally, sscientific research Find out more about what causes weeds to tick.It is not unreasonable to think that This information will be available someday In the form of tests or profiles to help you find the bespoke weed experience you’re looking for.BFor now you can thank stigma The ban and lack of enthusiasm for active weed research because of this.trial and error Industry standard.