There was a time when I found Dan Bilzerian mildly amusing, but that time has come and gone.

Yeah, his holidays look like fun, and I’m sure frat boys all over the world hang on his every Instagram post, but all of it looks a little like a cry for attention.

So too does the advertising for Ignite Cannabis Company, which Bilzerian owns, with the massive billboard on Santa Monica Boulevard in East Hollywood proving particularly divisive.

Observe:

Not sure how this is much different to the awful fragrance ads we see on telly, but it’s rubbed many the wrong way.

According to VICE, the billboard is just one piece of the puzzle:

Bilzerian has nearly 26 million Instagram followers, a measure of fame he’s earned by touting a lavish, bro-centric lifestyle. He’s adopted a similar MO when it comes to branding Ignite—rolling out an Instagram account flooded with women in thongs and lingerie and a “Spokesmodel Search” for ten ladies to represent the company at events including parties at the “Ignite estates.”

(The brand’s kickoff soiree last year included Chris Brown, Tyga, and a security guard with an AR-15…)

OK, as soon as they involved Chris Brown, they lost me.

It’s not exactly breaking news that sex sells (again, Ignite’s Instagram account), but many within the cannabis industry itself have taken aim at Bilzerian for relentlessly pursuing this angle:

“Honestly, shame on them,” said Olivia Mannix, co-founder and CEO of Denver-based marketing firm Cannabrand. “It’s not only putting a damper on the cannabis industry, but it’s putting a damper on the women’s movement and women’s rights.”

Mannix isn’t alone in her sentiment. To many within the cannabis industry, Ignite’s advertising approach is a symbol of the old guard, as well as a sexist, misogynistic vibe that contemporary brands and industry leaders are working hard to move past.

To those outside the business, Ignite’s ads are simply offensive. In September in Modesto, California, parents pushed for removal of an Ignite billboard one called “derogatory,” which featured a close-up of two girls’ butts wearing branded bikinis with the tagline “Best Buds.”

These type of “sexed-out connotations” are slowly being phased out in cannabis as legalization and greater public awareness of the drug’s medical capabilities expand consumer demographics from the stereotypical “stoner” to the mainstream soccer mom baby boomer or senior citizen, said Mannix.

Many within the cannabis business have taken issue with Ignite and their advertising, with some arguing that they’re actually shooting themselves in the foot by ostracising a key demographic.

There is some evidence to back that up, too:

According to data gathered by BDS Analytics in 2017, 44 percent of cannabis consumers were female and the average age of smokers across California, Washington, Oregon, and Colorado was 42…

If you ask Anna Duckworth, one of cannabis company Miss Grass’s co-founders, Bilzerian’s actually doing his product a disservice:

[She] is confident that Bilzerian’s “bullshit campaign” won’t make a dent in the overall forward momentum of cannabis. He’s the exception, not the rule.

“I’m not worried about Dan Bilzerian setting a precedent for how the cannabis industry is at all,” Duckworth said. “I think he’s digging his own grave swiftly at the moment.”

At the end of the day, there are probably enough ‘Bilzerian Bros’ to keep Ignite ticking over, but only time will tell if he’s missing a trick with this one.

Fine – here’s Bilzerian’s personal Instagram account. We’re done.

[source:vice]