Facing red tape online, marijuana companies are inventing a totally new breed of advertising

What do you do when the advertising world shuts you out? You slip through the backdoor.

That’s what marijuana companies are doing to circumvent strict pot-ad bans by companies such as Google and Facebook. Ad exchanges, marketplaces where digital ad space is traded in bulk, also tend to steer clear from anything cannabis-related.

Earlier this week, a company named Bang Holdings launched a service that will use social media personalities to market weed-related products. Mantis, another company specializing in pot advertising, places online marijuana ads through its own network of cannabis-friendly publications and other tech tools.

Pot may be legal in some form or another in almost half of US jurisdictions, but the industry is having trouble shaking off its shady roots. The federal government has provided some guidance on how state rules should interface with federal law, but the Obama administration has said little about advertising aside from clarifying that it’s illegal to do so through the mail.

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http://qz.com/668154/facing-red-tape-online-marijuana-companies-are-inventing-a-totally-new-breed-of-advertising/