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CBD companies are in a fairly unique place in that they cannot use their primary function – health and wellness – to advertise their brands. And this is not without reason – as shown by the numerous instances of scurrilous companies making outlandish claims about CBD and cancer, Alzheimer’s and other diseases where a “miracle cure” is seemingly often the last chance of the desperate.
So the industry cannot make any claims without the science to back them up. And due to a variety of reasons, that science is just not there yet. This puts the more legitimate ends of the business in a bit of a bind. How do you show a product can do something and differentiate it in the marketplace if you are shackled from making any claims about what it can do?
One popular method is the celebrity endorsement. If a triathlete endorses an after-workout CBD muscle balm then it does not take a genius to connect the dots and see that CBD may have an impact on post-workout soreness and inflammation.
But reliance on alternative methods such as celebrity endorsements and restrictions on advertising that are a vestige of associations with cannabis mean that it can be quite difficult for a company to get in front of its target audience.
As a result, CBD firms may be more vulnerable than those in other sectors to companies promising wider exposure and a celebrity endorsement boost. That appears to be the case at least from a recent CBD-Intel investigation into a lawsuit alleging deceptive trade practices and breach of contract by a US TV advertising firm.
The full details of the lawsuit can be read in the CBD-Intel article. But it is worth noting that CBD-Intel is aware of at least one other TV advertising company which is soliciting business from CBD companies for similar services and has also had some dissatisfied customers. It would be wise for any CBD firm considering using TV advertising to be diligent in researching any company making such offers before entering into a contract.
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*Under CBD-Intel’s editorial discretion
