Cannabis & Celebrities - Branding Bud Live Episode 32
THE SUMMARY
Join co-hosts David Paleschuck and Adriana Hemans for an insightful conversation with Steve Bloom, founder of www.celebstoner.com as they explore the intersection of celebrities and cannabis. Are they genuinely championing the normalization of cannabis or merely seizing a lucrative business opportunity? Explore the impact their involvement has on equity, diversity and inclusion in the industry.
THE CO-HOSTS
David Paleschuck, Adriana Hemans
THE SPECIAL GUEST
Steve Bloom, founder of CelebStoner
THE TRANSCRIPT
DAVID PALESCHUCK
Welcome to Branding Bud Live, the live stream that’s 100% THC and 0% WTF. Every week we speak with business people about the business of cannabis. I’m David Paleschuck, founder of Branding Bud Consulting Group and author of the first book on cannabis branding. I’m joined by my co-host Adriana Hemans, a Marketing executive with over 8 years in the cannabis space. Hi Adriana!
ADRIANA HEMANS
Hi David. Thank you for that intro. I’m so excited to co-host the show with you. We’re bringing amazing guests from across the cannabis ecosystem to share their perspectives. My favorite thing about Branding Bud Live is that we focus on building community - and we encourage audience participation. It’s not just about us talking, it’s about all of us building something together. So feel free to drop your questions and/or opinions in the chat, and we’ll share them too.
DAVID PALESCHUCK
We’re here to build community, educate and entertain … so let’s jump into today’s show, "Cannabis & Celebrities". Today, we’ll be chatting with Steve Bloom, Publisher of CelebStoner.com, former editor of High Times and Freedom Leaf, and co-author of Pot Culture and Reefer Movie Madness. Steve has been a longtime cannabis activist – and we thank him for his work. Some of the topics we’ll cover in the show today are:
What notable celebrities have ventured into the cannabis industry?
How will their involvement affect the overall trajectory of the industry?
Will their fame and influence reshape public perception of cannabis?
I’m super excited to chat with Steve today.
ADRIANA HEMANS
Me too!
(Acknowledges the audience.)
DAVID PALESCHUCK
Let’s welcome, Steve Bloom.
STEVE BLOOM
I'm very good. Thank you.
ADRIANA HEMANS
Hi Steve. Welcome to Branding Bud Live. We're excited to chat with you. Would you kick us off with tell us about yourself and what you're passionate about?
STEVE BLOOM
Well, I'm passionate about cannabis. So obviously, that's what I'm doing here today. I have other things that I enjoy in life. I'm a music journalist by trade. So I love music. My dad hat. I'm looking forward to the Dead & Company Tour that's coming through New York next week. I love the movies. I’m into vegetarianism. I enjoy hiking, I’m into travel. Those are some of my passions. I'm also a big Mets baseball fan.
DAVID PALESCHUCK
I'm curious to get your thoughts on this. You've been in cannabis forever. You were the co-editor at High Times for 20 years. Then started celeb stoner.com. Could you just talk at a high level about the evolution of celebrities in the cannabis space? Initially consumers, and now brand owners.
STEVE BLOOM
Well, you know, going back to my years at High Times, I was an editor at High Times in multiple capacities, which led to being co-editor of the magazine, and sort of my last couple of years there. So I was at High Times for 20 years, from 1988 to 2007. During my years at High Times, I started as a news editor. And that just got me deeply understanding what was really going on in the world of cannabis, mostly that 1000s and 1000s of people being arrested for it. That was really what you know, the magazine kind of was focusing on and also teaching people how to grow. But during the early 90s, we started to focus on celebrity coverage. The magazine had featured celebrities somewhat over the years, but not you know, didn't concentrate on that. And I began to concentrate on that. So me and a few other editors at High Times, start to focus on bringing more celebrities into the magazine. And our big breakthrough was 1992 March issue Cypress Hill, Cypress Hill has gone on to become probably the greatest stoner bands of all time with the frontman Breal having his own businesses now in cannabis. He's a great example of somebody who can start as an advocate and then go into the business like so many of the other people we'll be talking about today. And that just kicked off interest in the music community among bands to the peer and getting involved with the magazine. Remember, High Times was pretty much the only game in town back then there were no there was almost no competition. There were no other magazines until Cannabis Culture came around, and Skunk and maybe a few in Europe. So High Times kind of had that area to itself. So it just led to one thing led to another that the musicians and the bands all wanted to be featured in High Times around that time. And we started to just pick and choose who we would feature. And then it also bled over into the film industry where we feature Ice Cube on the cover when the Friday movie came out or we feature Rory Cochrane on the cover when Dazed & Confused came out. So that's kind of where we started with that. We put all the Marley brothers on the cover. You know, we put Willie Nelson obviously, numerous times Snoop Dogg numerous times, it wasn't so easy yet. They're really, you know, track them down and get them and it took years to get some of those things to happen. So, you know, that was really where I got going with that. And then on top of that, I started doing award shows for high times we did one called Dystonia Awards, which was a movie and TV awards show. And then we did a Doobie Awards, which was a music award show, so that it also brought me closer and closer to the celebrities and also got me very involved in loving award shows. I'm a student of award shows, I love award shows. I'm just into it. And this was sort of an area of interest of mine, that I you know, once I left high times like decided to continue it, you know, with what I was doing at High Times and started celebstoner.
ADRIANA HEMANS
Steve, you'd mentioned a second ago that it would take sometimes years to get celebrities to agree to be on the cover of the magazine. I wonder if you could go into that a little bit more. I'm curious about sort of how celebrities being involved may have influenced or shaped perceptions of cannabis in general, like with the general public?
STEVE BLOOM
Well, back then, you know, these celebrities who were speaking about cannabis and advocating were also, you know, under, you know, being watched very closely by authorities, so they had to be kind of careful. A lot of them were getting arrested quite a bit. Snoop Dogg and Willie Nelson, especially repeatedly were getting arrested. That's really why started slip stoner to focus in on the busts kind of like a TMZ for cannabis. Back in those days, when they two or three times a year, they seem to be getting arrested and buses, we're getting pulled over all the time. So it made it kind of difficult for us to reach out to some of these performers. I mean, for example, Carlos Santana gets arrested for marijuana in like 1991 I reached out to his people, they don't want to talk. It's too hot. You know, he's, you know, right now in the news, and they want to kind of keep it a little bit quiet, may harm his career. So then, you know, Tom Petty, you know, he sang a song about marijuana back in the early 90s. I tried to get him on the cover, and I got kind of blown up on that, too. So, you know, it was a hard sell to the more mainstream, but the more kind of edgy cringy bands were more into it, you know, so it was easy to get a fishbone in high times that it might have been to get a Tom Petty or a bigger name. And also, I found that we would get the celebrities on their sort of rise or at the later part of their career, but not in the middle. You're not in the peak, like we got ally, Sacha Baron Cohen, when he was doing Ali G, you know, because that was such a cool character. Stonie friend was not a friendly character. We got him very early, you know, when you think about it, you know, when that was happening, and then he went on to be Borat and all these things that he would do. Then we caught we got Ozzy Osbourne sort of tail end of his kind of career, you know, so it just would be more like the beginning or later, but not in the middle of publication.
DAVID PALESCHUCK
I'm guessing, times change, right? You know, so as things become more and more accepting, you know, people, people, but celebrities and people are more, more willing to sort of get into the cannabis space and, and assign their name or attach their name to cannabis. It seems interesting to me, though, that Tom Petty would sing a song about cannabis, but he wouldn't want to be on the cover of High Times, I guess,
STEVE BLOOM
It wasn't his decision. It was his publicity people protecting him and saying that's not what they line exactly said to me was a Tom doesn't need to be the poster boy for pot. Right. So I mean, they made a decision for him. But I found that if the publicist was doing his or her job, he was he or she was telling the artists that they represent the district quest came and then we let the artists decide, not decide for him or her. So that was an example of Ziggy Marley when I know Bob Marley appeared on the cover High Times famously in 1976, one of his favorite magazines, when I got to high times, it was a Marley fan. I figured, well, let's open this door and the Marley's were big then with the Melody Makers. And he had his own group, I thought, well, that's a natural for High Times knocked on the door. It was kind of like, now think so. The publicist, but then the next album comes out, and she calls me says, they want to do it. Well, she must have told them, you know, held it back, but then told them and then it's okay. I'll do it. Because that's your job. Do what the artists want. They can tell them. I don't think it's a good idea, but the artist can overrule.
ADRIANA HEMANS
Who do you consider your biggest fish to get on the cover?
STEVE BLOOM
It was clearly Snoop Dogg. You know, because Snoop Dogg had gotten. We had a couple of times where it fell through. I was supposed to fly to LA for something that didn't happen when he was on death row. He was having legal issues. So it took a while but it you know, but it took that seven or eight years to make that happen. Those are really sort of the ones that I wanted. The one that I couldn't get that disappointed me to this day was Bill Maher. Bill Maher didn't want to preach to the converted. So he felt it wasn't necessary to have You're in high times. I mean, Bill Maher of all people has never even done an interview with high times. Why? I'll never know.
DAVID PALESCHUCK
Maher would be, in my opinion, a great interview and certainly in High Times as well.
STEVE BLOOM
He turned down a photoshoot, I had a photographer ready to shoot him in San Francisco and he was speaking at the normal conference and he wouldn't pose for a photo. I listen, I'd like Bill Maher, but I'm saying this is just the way he acted to them.
DAVID PALESCHUCK
We've spoken about all of the different celebrities, you know, that you've worked with over time, we're not all of them, but some of them and we you know, some have turned down things some have, you know, opted in to do things. You know, how, how important do you think this is to getting cannabis into the mainstream culture is this is this like, is this where the momentum comes from? Is it celebrities Is it is it you know, is it but talk about cannabis that that pushes it forward?
STEVE BLOOM
It certainly helps. You know, especially when not a lot of people were speaking about it. Least people you know, like celebrity type people. And it was just a handful. But if you think about say, Willie Nelson, Snoop Dogg, Seth Rogen, people like that, they never do an interview Wiz Khalifa they never do an interview these days without talking about It just always comes up but they're sitting on a table across from Jimmy Kimmel, it's going to get talked about so the one Woody Harrelson more you know, if they're doing interviews would be Goldberg or you know, or Melissa Etheridge, you know, people who are identified with cannabis and, you know, in some major way, it's generally going to come up, maybe not a would be because what he does so many other things, she hasn't had that much success in her businesses yet in cannabis. But, you know, people like the Cypress Hill, you know, be real, I mean, it's always going to be discussed. So that opens the door. If willingness is sitting down for a national audience, it's going to come up. So I think that's always a good thing. And it's only a handful, it's less than 10 that probably get that treatment, you know, from the media. These are the highest of the celebrity stoners that you can imagine, because they're constantly being grilled on the subject, and have to say something smart, you know, not something, you know, you know, off the wall, or, you know, unintelligent, I mean, I have to say something really significant, you know, they have their moment, you know, to impress America with why they believe cannabis, you know, is unfairly prohibited, and why it should be illegal. So I do think that you have a role, but there are only a handful of them. So you know, who really have the pulpit to say what they want on a regular basis. I wish there were more, but there are only that a handful that are really super identified with cannabis that can really spread the message, you know, far and wide.
ADRIANA HEMANS
And now we have a situation where we have such wide stream acceptance among the general public. And maybe that's why when we hear news about celebrities who are like launching a brand or endorsing a brand, for example, there's a lot of just like a collective yawn, like people are just like, okay, you know, another celebrity getting in, who cares? I love to get your perspective on that, Steve.
STEVE BLOOM
I mean, first of all, celebrity branding is very diverse. Okay, so that's another element of diversity and cannabis, I at least 1/3 of the celebrity brands are hiphop oriented, black athletes. So, so that's a good thing right there. Um, you know, I think people are dubious about celebrity branding, because they think it's another rich person getting into make some more money, you know, let somebody else make the money. And that's a fair criticism. But I think there is room for everyone. You know, it's a, it's a new industry, with new stores, new states opening up every day, every month, every year, you know, it's expanding rapidly. There's room for everybody. Right now, that might be you know, some problems in the industry. And there will be companies that are not going to make it, which are celebrity brand companies and other companies, because so many come out, you know, when the new industry begins, and then some of them just are not well run businesses, they just won't make it, you know, so the ones that are well run, the ones that have the capital, and ones that are invested in properly will do better with the celebrity branding. I mean, I also find that people question whether a celebrity has the right to even have a brand, and what qualifies them for having that right. And that right, is that they put in the time they paid some dues. Obviously Snoop Dogg and Willie Nelson pay dues, they got arrested numerous times. That's dues, you know. So But Jim Belushi hasn't you know, so they question you know, a guy like blue sheet jumping in is that okay? You know, or Big Papi, you know, David Ortiz. He's the baseball player. We never knew we had any interest in advocating for cannabis, maybe you know, a lot of those players, by the way have to be kind of quiet about it. In sports, they can't say much drug tested, you know, they could get suspended. So the athletes kind of came out of the closet, so to speak, once they retire. But the musicians and the actors and people, they don't have such restrictions, they can speak at any time they want. And they may not think it's good for their career to be associated with cannabis. But there's no rule that says they can't speak about it, or they're going to get suspended for failing a drug test. So they don't face those sorts of pressures. But anyway, I'm saying that I stand up for anybody who jumps in, but I will say, you know, there are probably some celebrity brands that are that were just maybe get rich schemes or just jump in real fast or they team up with some partner and they say, Hey, we're going to we'll make a lot of money and it doesn't quite work out like that. So they learned their lesson fast that that doesn't work. But it's still fun to see, you know, sleds jump in whether they make it or not.
ADRIANA HEMANS
Yeah, it is fun to see them and, and retired athletes like you just mentioned, I'm a huge fan of Al Harrington's Viola brand. Exactly, yeah, we want to get you on the show. Let's jump into an audience participation now for a second and we have a fun question that's related to this topic. Which celebrity does not have a cannabis brand? Jaleel White, Mayim Bialik. Or Jason Gann?
DAVID PALESCHUCK
Yeah. And just, you know, while the audience is thinking about this, and audience, it's your chance to shine soon. Just a couple of things that came through earlier about celebrities and medical, you know, I think Montel Williams, you know, is sort of like he came out really early on and came out for medical and, and just probably doesn't get the love across the celebrities that maybe he should, because he's been, he's been fighting for a long time too. So it's interesting to see what celebrities came in early on to fight for the men as a medical activist, and then also those that came in later because now it was legal, and they could just have a name on and make something out of it. But it's interesting. So audience it is your chance to shine.
As I said earlier, Shavo is a bass player for a System Of The Down. Jaleel White is Urkl from Family Matters. Or Purple Urkl. Myim Bialik is currently the Jeopardy host, actress and Jason Gann is an Australian comedian who was on the show, Wilfred.
DAVID PALESCHUCK
Steve, what are your thoughts on this?
STEVE BLOOM
Shavo, you know, is a good example of a rocker getting into the business. Julio is an example of an actor getting into the business. Jason Gaines, another actor who's Australian who came to the US to do his girlfriend show. And my um, you know, I just know she's not into it because she actually sued recently a CBD company who were using her name fraudulently.
DAVID PALESCHUCK
Did not know that.
STEVE BLOOM
That's been done to a lot of celebrities. I fraudulently use their name and hype CBD. You must have seen some of these ads all over Facebook. You know, they did it to Bill Maher. They did it to Clint Eastwood. He sued and won.
DAVID PALESCHUCK
That's, that's interesting. Well, let's jump to the answer. I think I think Steve has given us some insight. So the answer is C. And it's my opinion. Yeah.
ADRIANA HEMANS
And Ron got it right. Charlene got it. Right. Jason got it. Right, Quinton and Michael. Good job.
STEVE BLOOM
Can I comment on what you said about medical use? I and celebrities? You know that's another area of almost like a sub-genre of celebrity branding is people like you know, Melissa Etheridge and Montel who both have conditions. Melissa had breast cancer and she started to use cannabis, you know, in her treatment. Not too she never used kind of this before, but really started to use it more significantly, medically, medically. And, and you know, and Montel has MS. And he's been talking about, you know, how it helps him for years. So that's a whole other area. And Jim Belushi, you know, also I talked to a lot. He's much very much a believer in the medical, not that he has a condition but he only talks about medicine. He doesn't talk about anything else. When he talks about cannabis. It's all to him medicine.
DAVID PALESCHUCK
And just to double click on that, correct me if I'm wrong, but it's Jim Belushi out of probably all of the celebrities that actually has his own farm and is involved in the cultivation whereas most just licensed their name out, is that correct?
STEVE BLOOM
I'm not saying I mean, yes, I mean, very much different than most I mean, he moved to Oregon he bought a farm people have probably seen the growing blue show on Discovery, which tells the whole story of how he did that they ready gone for three seasons the fun show. Yeah, I mean, and he tells me he's got no investors, it's all his own money, or family money, whatever, you know, as he's taking the risk. I mean, you know, a year from now he could be out of business for you know, you know, because prices have gone down so dramatically. It's going to affect guy like him to you know, not just you know, the legacy farmers but anybody news coming into the game trying to make decent bucks, you know, selling cannabis when the prices have gone down, you know, precipitously so who knows how well he'll do it, he may burn through millions of dollars and then lose it all for all you know, it could happen. But yeah, but that's his approach. Whereas, you know, most companies tie in with some sort of cultivator and then make a deal between a cultivator and the brand.
ADRIANA HEMANS
That's a really interesting example, about Jim Belushi and how he does cultivation, I think it's an important distinction, like the difference between just an endorsement and someone actually getting involved in in the actual business itself. Like, there's also the example of Seth Rogen when he did his house plant, Airbnb rental, and he was like there meeting people who rented that place. So it's like, there are, I think, much more authentic ways for people to get involved and even build, like publicity around that versus just like putting their picture on a package. Well,
STEVE BLOOM
I agree. And also Rogen and houseplant, you know, has a different approach. They have all these accessories that they sell, you know, they sell ashtrays, and lighters, and this and that, you know, it's a whole other side business. I mean, as much as you see promotion of house plant, you know, round flower, you see them promoting their lighters and stuff. So that's a whole other area that Seth, I think decided on his own because he's a, he's into ceramics, and he started making his own, you know, pieces and things. So people would like it, because I like it. And some of it is nice. And some of it's kind of ugly, but he puts it out there, you know, because he thinks people want it, as opposed to the thing is that you live in New York, you can buy his high priced accessories, you know, from California, but you still can't get as we write?
DAVID PALESCHUCK
Well, I mean, I guess that's, that's not his fault.
STEVE BLOOM
But part of the plan is, I think, is to sell other items that people can actually buy that they don't have to it's not flour touching, so they can actually buy through the mail, you know, and order it, you know, so whereas, you know, you live in New York, and houseplants hasn't moved outside of California that I know of, we have no access to, you know, that particular brand. And honestly, living in New York, I don't really get my hands on too many celebrity brands. I sort of miss out on that. I had a friend who was mailing me some stuff a few years ago before COVID. He was sending me the Garcia brand, the Santana brand from California, go out and visit you buy some and ship it back. But I don't get my hands on it enough to be honest.
DAVID PALESCHUCK
Yeah, I don't either up here in Washington State. I'm curious. So, you know, when you talk about like, I guess their star power? Does that help them more? You know, are we seeing Let me ask it this way. Are we seeing celebrity brands, you know, really break out from other brands? Because their star power is helping them or? Or in fact, based on an article you've just recently wrote or arc celebrity brands declining, just like the overall industry is?
STEVE BLOOM
Well, I do see a decline right now. 2021 was probably the biggest year of launches, probably 25 or 30. New companies, you know, happened this year, there's been maybe three or four launches. If anything, things have gone in the opposite direction that Garcia brand left California. burner and cookies are assumed Jay Z and monograms sued. Kristen bells, happy dance CBD companies shuttered. So I look at that as bad news for celebrity branding. But you know it's indicative of You know that they're going to be, you know, there are a lot, they're going to be less. And the ones that were not well run are going to go out of business. And so there'll be fewer and fewer and bigger companies will ultimately probably buy them up, you know, in the long run, you know, the way things kind of work in our country, you know, bigger corporations will buy up the smaller ones as time goes on. But yeah, I mean, I, you know, it's just the way the industry is going right now. So it's not a good time for investment. And probably, it's a harder time even for the celebrity brands to get launched. Whereas couple years ago, you know, people are a little more excited, and the money was flowing a little bit more, and now the stock market's not so great around pot and, and, you know, prices have gone down significantly. And, you know, it's just so much going on in the industry, you know, the celebrity branding is just one small element of it to be honest. And, you know, yeah, I think the celebs get, you know, immediate boost, because when they want your brand, it gets media all over the place, they put out a press release all the media lapse it up, they cover it like crazy, and they're not going to go crazy about some new brand that's coming out of California, like stills or something like that, you know, that doesn't have the celebrity people magazines not going to care about that. So, so yeah, the celebs definitely get, you know, the publicity, they get the hits early on, but that's not going to make their company survive. They're just going to get a good boost at the beginning.
ADRIANA HEMANS
Yeah, I love this question from Ron. See, what do you consider the most successful celebrity brands to date?
STEVE BLOOM
Willie's reserve. I mean, I don't have the numbers. And I was trying to get that and I've worked with headset and a couple of other stat statistical companies out there, but nobody seems to want to really break it down. You know, give me a chart, a celebrity brand chart that tells us really who's selling the most, it's very hard to get that information, I just cannot get it done yet. Maybe some company to come along and figure out I was hoping headset could do it. But they turned us down. I was working with them and green marker report on a on a kind of collaboration that fell through. So it's hard to determine, you know, what's selling, and what's not, it's really just the numbers are not there. So it's more guesswork on my part. So you know, I just feel like, you know, Willie's reserve has a really good infrastructure around the country, I would think they're doing pretty well. But I don't know, maybe they expanded too much. And they're cutting back, I just don't really know, you know, what are the most successful brands? Because the information is not quite there.
DAVID PALESCHUCK
Yeah, that's, that's definitely hard. To ascertain. I, I'm curious, you know, for all the great things that we talk about celebrity brands doing like, like normalizing and bringing along, you know, People Magazine, you know, when the rest of it and all the people that read People Magazine sort of better understand what's going on in the industry. You know, I often think about, there are legacy, cultivators, there are people that have been in the industry for a really long time that have worked hard, that want to bring a brand to market and that might not get shelf space, or might not get the notoriety or might not get the things that the celebrity brands do, you know, so I often struggle with our celebrity brands and good thing for the industry, which I think there's good there. But I also wonder, are they taking other people's, you know, other people's places that have been around for a while and desert those spots? What are your thoughts on that?
STEVE BLOOM
Well, first of all, what is legacy? I mean, Jay Z was a dealer, you know, so, I mean, should he not come into the cannabis industry? You know, Method Man, dealer, Snoop Dogg, dealer. You know, all these people sold weed, you know, early in their life before they became, you know, famous rappers, you know, many of them, I'd probably say almost all of them, you know, so they're all legacy. So like I said before, the legacy aspect of this celebrity branding is a good thing, because so much of it comes from, you know, people who, who came out of the community themselves, you know, more came out of the community being targeted by the war on drugs and maybe even gone to jail for it. So on that front, it's a good thing on the other side. Yeah, I mean, there's limited shelf space and, but I just think there's room for everybody. I just don't know; these stores are big. There's a lot of room you know, so just make room for as many brands as possible and sell the ones that do best and the ones that don't do well take it out of your inventory. Just determine yourself, you know, what people want? Do they like the idea that make just like the packaging of the celebrity brand? I mean, the Garcia hand-picked this amazing packaging. I mean, it is a shake, like shaped like the tar pics, and that alone is a collector's item. So I'm just saying I mean the packaging is fabulous. You know, it was so much fun. Cool stuff, if you look at it's, it's that kind of, I don't think you'd get that with most, you know, packaging these days, you know. So I think the celebrity branding is a little cooler in that respect, packaging is a little better. I just, I just might, I guess my mantra and this, this program is going to be there's room for everybody.
ADRIANA HEMANS
There's probably a familiarity aspect to it too, right? If you're thinking about people who may be new entrants to consumption, and the novelty of doing something different for the first time could be a little bit offset by saying like, Oh, well, I'm familiar with this person on the package. I'm familiar with this person who is endorsing. So this is a safe thing to do. And while we were talking just now, I thought of maybe try hitting up right field to get your answer question or your question answered there, one of our partners and suppliers, some really cool data, so they might be able to help you with your question about the most revenue for celebrity friend.
DAVID PALESCHUCK
Thanks for the suggestion. appreciate, you know, and see if we can help, we can introduce you to the right people.
STEVE BLOOM
Right now, I'm dying to put a chart on this on the sidebar of the website, you know, top selling brands, celebrity brands, I'm dying. I've been trying to do this for three, four years now and campaign I have not found a partner, like I said headset turns us down. They should have been the one to deal with us.
DAVID PALESCHUCK
Adriana, you just spoke about trust, right, and safety. I often think about Martha Stewart, why is she in the game. I kind of scoffed initially, but the truth is, she brings a lot of people into it, she offers that safety, she, she offers that. And again, whether it's real or perceived is a different story, but she wouldn't put her name on something if it wasn't safe.
STEVE BLOOM
Martha's cool. I mean, her association with Snoop Dogg and Willie those easy lighters with BiC. I mean, it's just all so cool. She's turned into the coolest person, you know, when he or she got out of jail, you know, you know, was pretty much no deer. And now all of a sudden, she's considered one of the coolest people on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
ADRIANA HEMANS
She was not in jail for cannabis.
STEVE BLOOM
I think she represents more of a female side of the industry that leans a little bit more towards CBD. The female branding has been more towards CBD. So she's the perfect person to be branding CBD packaging perfect.
ADRIANA HEMANS
And Ron brings up Ken has a successful example in California not sure about the rest of the country, he says, which is a perfect segue into our next participation section.
DAVID PALESCHUCK
Sure. So which celebrity has invested in can be cannabis infused beverage? Is it a Gwyneth Paltrow, the Rebel Wilson See, Kate, Hudson or D, all of the above. So, audience while you're while you're working through that, and figuring that out. I just wanted to comment on Michael Rosenfeld's comment on Mike Tyson. My least favorite person and least favorite candidate is celebrity. But, but Steve, to your point, I know people that would never have bought this product. But did because they thought you know; it was a novelty and it was a collectible. And I'm talking about the edibles called bites, which are the ears with a bite cut out of it.
STEVE BLOOM
So it's I didn't think that was too funny, honestly. But now he's working directly with Holyfield. So who am I to discern determine you know, how they should get along? But I'm not a big fan of Tyson's involvement in the industry. But it's sort of like wearing me down to like, just stop fighting it. Yes. It's like people favorite. They like Tyson for whatever reason, they think he's just reclaimed his life from being a terrible person who he was a rapist and that kind of stuff that you know that even a guy like Tyson can improve himself and maybe weed and psychedelics can really turn him around so I've just I fought the fight on Tyson initially and now I've just backed off like enough already. You know, people don't want to hear it pretty much yeah, either people are going to say leave him alone. He's okay. Or they're going to say rapist and I can't support it. So take your side on Tyson.
DAVID PALESCHUCK
I definitely take my side - and I'm NOT for Tyson. His first cannabis company went bankrupt (Tyson’s Ranch), and his second company will probably do the same. He is a convicted felon, rapist and, wife beater. And he recently beat someone up on a plane headed to a cannabis conference in Miami. That's someone I can't get behind. That said let's get back into this kind of choice. So is it A Gwyneth Paltrow, B rebel, Wilson, C, Kate, Hudson, or D all of the above?
ADRIANA HEMANS
Yeah, these are more recognizable, and the answer is D, all of the above.
STEVE BLOOM
All these choices are female. And so women like sodas, and it's, it's another way, edibles another way to get into the industry without attaching yourself directly to flour. And, and it's maybe a safer way safer choice. You know, for women, you know, you'd have to deal with the smell or, you know, Adriana, you could tell me what you think on this, but women are more inclined to be behind these products. Chelsea Handler is behind a company called leisure time town, that's a drink company. Rosario Dawson is by the way, another one of the investors in can. So that's my thought on that is that women are a little more into the beverages.
ADRIANA HEMANS
It's interesting that you bring this up, Steve, So you're absolutely right on about your comment earlier about CBD that does skew toward women. But looking at the data, it's actually men who purchase cannabis beverages more than women overall.
DAVID PALESCHUCK
And then, of course, there's always what's interesting, we spoke about headset earlier as the, you know, point of sale data. Are the men purchasing it for themselves? Are they purchasing it for others? And that's kind of where the data falls apart?
ADRIANA HEMANS
Well, vs beverages or social right and especially like these ones are specifically for it says social tonic right on the package. So you can imagine a scenario where people are bringing them to a party and sharing them with absolutely when they're men and women
DAVID PALESCHUCK
can in particular is sold in multiple packs, and four packs. So again, it's hard, it's hard to get your head, you know, around the data in a way that's really meaningful as to who the consumers are, what they're what they're really seeking for, but for sure, form factor plays a big role in the cannabis game. And flower is just one form factor.
STEVE BLOOM
And we're starting to see that a responded to run, you know, that can be not owned by Paltrow. She's an investor or brand ambassador or something along those lines.
DAVID PALESCHUCK
And by the way, side note, she was Luke's babysitter when, when they were when Luke was younger. So years later, he started CANN with his partner. And babysitter, Gwyneth Paltrow. Investment is pretty fun.
STEVE BLOOM
So my own babies learn something new on this program.
DAVID PALESCHUCK
There you go. Well, interesting. So, you know, we've got a few more minutes here. You know, Steve, do celebrity endorsements overshadow the contributions of the marginalized communities or, or do you think everyone's on their own, and, you know, has an equal footing? And you know, what all is fair.
STEVE BLOOM
Let me I'm just going to go back to my point that I've made several times is that it's a diverse industry isn't the celebrity branding is very diverse, it's a good thing. It's not a bunch of white guys trying to make a lot more money. You know, it's a lot of people of color, who are jumping in, you know, who happened to be celebrities, and happened to be involved in the industry years ago. So I don't see how that's harming anybody. It's benefiting some people who happened to be celebrities who also are legacy people who were involved early on, and now they want to get involved later on, as their careers have developed, and they have time to devote to another passion of theirs. You know, they're musicians by and large, or they're actors, or there's athletes, but then they want to do something else with their lives, especially later in their careers. So I think that's all good. But again, you know, yeah, eating up the spaces is a concern, but I don't see how suddenly brands are going to interfere with legacy ownership in the industry. I think they're just apples and oranges.
DAVID PALESCHUCK
Okay, interesting. And I think, you know, based on a lot of your, your answers today. I think the cannabis space or the celebrity space within cannabis is not so simple. I mean, there's lots of buckets and there's lots of categories, right, you know, there's the Hmong, Pitbull's, and Melissa's. And there's also, you know, the Jay Z's and, and Method Man, but then there's also Martha Stewart, right. So I think, I think it's not just Yes, it's good, or yes, it's bad. I think there's lots of different people doing different things.
STEVE BLOOM
Pitbull just signed up with Columbia care, you know, does he really care or is he just making money? You know, so there's the, or even Wiz Khalifa signing up with truly even getting flack for that. So you know, that's where the celebrities have to really think hard about who they align themselves with. You know, Wiz Khalifa has taken a lot of flak for crappy truly pot in Pennsylvania lately, you know, on Twitter and responding to that. He has no say over what they're growing, but he's affiliated with the company, because they're the biggest and they gave him the most money, probably. So I think celebrities really have to be a little more careful about their selection process, and not affiliating himself necessarily with the biggest MSO. So pick the right MSO.
DAVID PALESCHUCK
Exactly. Steve, thank you so much for walking through, you know, all these questions with us and taking the time to better understand what's happening in this celebrity space. Really appreciate it.
STEVE BLOOM
Thank you so much for having me today. Great to meet you, Adriana. And thank you, David, for bringing me in for this today.
DAVID PALESCHUCK
Thank you, Steve. And just before you go just again, there's very few people that have as much time in the industry that you do. So I just want to throw out a big thank you for all the things you've done.
ADRIANA HEMANS
Yeah, same here.
DAVID PALESCHUCK
Well, that's it. We will be back next Thursday, June 22. We'll be chatting about all things cannabis with two controversial cultivators and real-life brothers, Bill and Jeff levers, also known as the Beard Brothers. Join us for our show next week is titled “A Close Shave With The Beard Bros” We're really excited to chat with them. Also, just want to point out that we are finally up on all the podcast platforms. So you can find random bud live on YouTube now on our channel. You can find us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon and Castbox. Please check us out there if you've missed any of our previous episodes.
Apple Podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/branding-bud-live/id1690912840
Amazon Music For Podcasters:
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/49fe991a-9424-4dd2-a2b5-30a5cdb8f2f1/branding-bud-live
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/3gJDNBDnmaYZz8df5b6JWs
Google Podcasts:
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9kZTJkOTQ4Yy9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw
CastBox:
https://castbox.fm/app/castbox/player/id5462736
Linktree:
https://linktr.ee/brandingbudlive
ADRIANA HEMANS
Thanks for joining everyone. Please follow us!
DAVID PALESCHUCK
Thank you everybody. We'll see you next week. And don't forget to check out cannabis is best kept secret branding.com Thank you.
ADRIANA HEMANS
Bye
Branding Bud Live – weekly productive distractions for the cannabis industry, where business people come to talk about the business of cannabis.
🌿Find out more about the best-kept secret in cannabis at👇
