Theme 1
Social media sites should block access to marijuana business pages for youth under age 21.
Within all focus groups, participants generated the idea to restrict access to social media business pages for underage youth. A common idea for restriction, sometimes referred to as “age-gating,” was described as limiting access to the social media page based on whether the person was age 21 or over, applying data from their social media profile. Youth described that given that underage people can freely access social media, there needs to be another level of restriction for accessing marijuana business pages. An example comment was “One thing is that I think there should be restrictions on [the marijuana business pages].” Another participant described, “you have access to [the social media page] without being 21 and I think that’s a problem. Like, I don’t think they should be able to put their products directly out there ‘cause anyone can access Twitter.”
In most groups, parallels were drawn to how underage youth could not access social media business pages for tobacco and alcohol due to restrictions on these pages because of age-gating. Youth generally felt that these restrictions for access applied to underage youth were fair and appropriate. Many participants wondered why marijuana companies would be allowed to bypass these age-based restrictions. One participant explained, “I think the idea of comparing it to drinking, and all of the heavy ad laws that are--most people are kind of aware of I feel like--should correspond with marijuana.”
Most participants agreed with the approach of limiting access to business pages, though some expressed pessimism that marijuana companies would follow a rule such as this. This sentiment was often linked to discussions of retail marijuana companies “by definition operating outside the [federal] law.” Other participants expressed a sense of pessimism of whether the rule would be monitored or consequences would happen when it was broken. One participant described, “it seems like, I dunno, there have, there are like implemented laws. But none of them are like really like executed to their word. And uhm, I guess marijuana companies seem, like, they know this and they can do whatever they want. ‘Cause they don’t have any regulation, no one’s actually actively enforcing it. So that’s pretty problematic and maybe uhm if there was enforcement maybe there’d be less of this.”
Theme 2
Policy is needed to regulate content that marijuana businesses can use to promote their products.
Many youth participants voiced their thoughts that a policy to restrict access to marijuana business pages alone would “not be enough.” It was recognized that even if youth could not access a marijuana business’s social media page, other social media users with such access could share content from their own profiles and then youth might see it. There were discussions among participants about their experiences seeing branded content promoting marijuana use because it was shared widely on sites such as Twitter, often by peers rather than by a business. One youth noted, “Cause like if the entire purpose of Twitter is to like re-tweet stuff, then if somebody that doesn’t have an age restriction re-tweets it, then you’ve lost all purpose restricting the age.” Another youth stated, “I think in terms of law, that should be an aspect that anything can go viral, so something [about content] should be regulated for sure.”
The discussions about content regulations focused on two key areas: content restrictions and mandated content. Discussions around content restrictions focused mostly around content that would be attractive to youth. One youth summarized it as such: “they shouldn’t direct it towards kids. …I know they shouldn’t be making something that can be harmful to us, attractive to us.” Some participants felt that marijuana social media posts often included people who appeared to be underage, and that this could be misleading to viewers about who was allowed to use marijuana. One adolescent recalled seeing a marijuana business social media post showing a celebrity who she knew was underage using marijuana. She stated, “I think they should make it a law that you shouldn’t post anything about adolescents indulging in illegal substances. They shouldn’t be allowed to post this at all. She is underage and its bad for underage people and it’s misleading.”
Another area of content that participants frequently discussed was marijuana businesses using social media posts to reference popular culture such as celebrities, movies and TV shows. One teen described, “there should be a law saying that you can’t associate marijuana with…movies and stuff like this. Something that is very popular.” Participants felt connected to particular movies, television or celebrities, and felt that integrating popular culture references into marijuana posts was a way to target and engage people their age. One participant described concern about a marijuana business social media post that referenced a TV show she liked. She described, “Um, movies or when you reference movies or popular things on TV shows, then their fandom will also be like ‘Ay, like that’s my favorite TV show.’ And it’s more likely that they will, um look more into your, like, business.”
A few participants suggested that marijuana business should not be able to use memes on their social media pages, given that adolescents and young adults view memes as a popular form of entertainment and communication among their age group. One participant stated “I’m thinking they shouldn’t be allowed to use children or anything associated with children and the memes that they post. This [example] post is so similar to, like, memes that a lot of adolescents engage in.”
Participants also felt that marijuana businesses should not be able to co-brand marijuana with products that they liked, such as sweets, candy or ice cream. One participant explained that linking a non-marijuana product to marijuana “might create associations that shouldn’t be there.” Another participant argued, “I don’t think this should be allowed, to like [brand of ice cream] shouldn’t be allowed. To advertise this, and that, like, [brand of ice cream] is a family establishment for all ages. And not all ages are, like, able or supposed to be purchasing pot.”
Some participants argued that businesses should be limited in their ability to make claims about health benefits of marijuana use. One participant explained that rules should be present “where they can’t like per- like promote like false information about h- health benefits of tobacco, like kind of similar to that.” Another suggestion was that for every post promoting benefits of marijuana use, the company should have one post about health risks of marijuana use. One participant remembered learning about this approach in school, “I’m not really aware of advertising laws specifically, but I can recall from class being told that for every cigarette ad there was on TV, there had to be another ad that followed it saying…talking about the negative impact of smoking cigarettes.” This idea resonated with several participants, with endorsements including, “I would just follow up with what she was saying and say that with the whole smoking cigarettes, and how you see that with advertisements, that with every pro they need to follow up with the cons.”
Additional ideas focused on content that should be present or mandated on marijuana business social media sites as well as their posts. For example, to require labeling of social media content as being only appropriate for those over age 21. Others confirmed this should happen even if social media sites were restricted. One participant explained, “I feel like they should probably put on the actual advertisements for actual businesses. Like, 21 or the age that it is actually for, instead of just being put out for just everyone. Even if it’s, like, obvious that they can screen for the younger people, it should be, like, said.”
A few participants argued that disclaimers about health risks or consumption limits should be present on business’ social media posts about marijuana. One participant described, “I think that more knowledge about the possible bad effects of it [should be posted]. Like, I didn’t know it was bad for a long time.” Participants again referenced alcohol and tobacco approaches and suggested applying these strategies to marijuana would be consistent with what they had seen in other media such as movies. One example was described, “in movies or something when they’re showing, like, alcohol or something. And, like, the little disclaimer on the bottom they write. Like, alcohol use can be injurious to health.” However, some participants were pessimistic that companies could be persuaded to post this type of content, as one participant described, “I think my last thing is just, like, [marijuana] businesses could care less about the health aspect.”
Some participants felt that marijuana social media posts should provide education about safe use. One participant stated, “I also feel like they should, like, notify people of the risk if there is any. And, like, what is too much or like how…what’s the limit that one should have or you know, like, with alcohol you know.” These discussions often drew parallels to how alcohol messages often include descriptions of blood alcohol limits for driving.