After having spent a good portion of our evening last night watching the first season of Showtime's underground-ish hit Weeds on DVD, today's burst of news regarding their new advertising campaign feels somehow especially relevant. (We haven't attempted to make one of their "use your fave herb" recipes yet, but we're pretty sure the folks at Rolling Stone have.)
Ad Age reports that, for the second season of Weeds, Showtime has taken out a scent-strip advertisements in the Aug. 24 issue of Rolling Stone magazine. We think even the biggest burn-out could put two and two together to determine the "scent strip" is intended to evoke a certain tree smell — and it's not Evergreen or Palm.
"There was a lot of back and forth about the scent," said George DeBolt, VP-media, Showtime. "We wanted to have the scent be as close as possible to marijuana. It's the buzz factor, if you will."
Ha ha. Ah ha ha ha. We're totally giggling. And we're not even stoned. The Bush administration, however, (huge shocker here) is not laughing. You think it was the "Weeds-themed brownies" that put 'em over the edge? The director of public affairs for the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy chided the network for it's creative marketing scheme, as well with Rolling Stone for participating in the campaign.
"There are more teens in treatment for marijuana than for alcohol dependence–is that funny?" Riley chided the Rolling Stone promotion as all too retro…"Maybe some baby boomers still find this kind of thing edgy, but young people don't."
Whatever. Lindsay Lohan finds drugs edgy and she's young, so … we don't know what the government is talking about. Plus, we think the greater concern here should be the potential fire hazard. Just think about how many seventh graders are going to try to roll up this advertisement and smoke it! Not to mention this could totally gateway into something like "scratch and snort" ads to promote E! True Hollywood Story: Kate Moss.
Pass the Scent Strip [Nat Ives, Ad Age]
Government Not High On Stinky 'Weeds' Campaign [Defamer]
Editorial Director
great site, I especially like the Gibson article. Keep up the good work.
I am going to buy a copy of Rolling Stone just to check this ad out. Genius marketing for a genius show!
This is simply incredible, and the United States Government needs to concentrate on more important things than weed, if ANYTHING its a positive "drug" and should be legalized. How about the US concentrates on making alcohol illegal since that actually Harms us. Another Thumbs up to the Bush administration (not) oh and Rolling Stones Mag, good job!
This is simply incredible, and the United States Government needs to concentrate on more important things than weed, if ANYTHING its a positive "drug" and should be legalized. How about the US concentrates on making alcohol illegal since that actually Harms us. Another Thumbs up to the Bush administration (not) oh and Rolling Stones Mag, good job!