From dealing to influencing: Online marketing of cannabis on Instagram

Abstract

In this paper we argue that legal and technological shifts in cannabis marketing has a gendered impact, which research so far has ignored. Despite high variations in national criminal laws, US-based social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter play a huge role in enforcing certain social and political standpoints on a global scale. One example being the recent legalization and commercialization of cannabis in various states in the US. Young men with dark, anonymous profiles illegally dealing cannabis on social media are no longer the only visible traders, as today’s marketing of trademarked legal cannabis products also features women influencers, who post images exhibiting light colors, desirable environments, and beautiful landscapes. To understand this diversity, we compared 60 Instagram profiles of illegal Swedish cannabis sellers to 70 US-based cannabis influencers’ Instagram profiles. By applying theories and research from media scholars on influencing, we highlight various changes in the way cannabis is being presented and professionalized by a new group of actors. Our findings show that cannabis influencers on Instagram are changing the stereotypical characteristics of illegal cannabis culture as being almost entirely dominated by men, to one where cannabis is represented as a desirable accessory in certain feminine lifestyles. Influencers’ role in transforming cannabis culture to become more mainstream and acceptable for women could potentially effect cannabis cultures globally, as well as ongoing legalization debates.

Understanding and preventing the advertisement and sale of illicit drugs to young people through social media: A multidisciplinary scoping review

“…Studies that examined social media users and drug advertisements tended to use a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods for data collection such as surveys [81,83,85], interviews/focus groups [76,77,79,80] and ethnographies [78,85]. Methods of data analysis ranged from content analysis [83] to the use of logistic regression to analyse survey data [23,81].…”

“…This also applies to integrating different kinds of drugs in models as the popularity of synthetic drugs are on the rise [6,12,104] but rarely focused on in the literature. Illicit drugs have been found to be advertised differently if they are presented as 'study', 'mental health' or 'wellness' drugs [38,77,85]. This highlights the necessity for future research on detection to integrate the behaviour of users.…”

“…Greater presence of illicit content on social media has been suggested as contributing to the normalisation of substance use in the future [30,117,118], while also increasing the visibility not only to consumers, but also to researchers. This trend was particularly suggested with cannabis, as its growing marketisation on social media feeds into movements and online communities of 'wellness' and 'healthy lifestyles' which may encourage drug seeking behaviours among young people [31,43,85]. The influencer and social media culture era brings new challenges as the expansion of new products within the boundaries of legal concentrations or marketised as 'safe' add to the complexity of an existing legal grey area.…”

“…The influencer and social media culture era brings new challenges as the expansion of new products within the boundaries of legal concentrations or marketised as ‘safe’ add to the complexity of an existing legal grey area. The blurriness of the law and its international disparities are likely to afford greater opportunities for sellers to market their goods in new spaces, such as social media or other apps [73,85]. This echoes suggestions that anonymous location‐based apps may flourish, facilitating drug commercialisation [75].…”

“…The ways in which drugs are marketed varied by and within platforms. Significant research [85] on this included an exploration of the gendered approach to cannabis sales on Instagram. By comparing the user profiles of Swedish illicit drug dealers and US-based cannabis influencers, Bakken and Harder [85] demonstrated how the portrayal of drugs on social media can transform accepted traditional perceptions of it.…”