Major brands such as Miller Lite, Wendy’s, Estee Lauder and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have also experimented with using the digital world for marketing, but cannabis marketers feel that the metaverse may offer them some advantages of particular interest.
To the extent that the Metaverse operates on the principles of Web 3, in which decentralization replaces corporate control over the Web, cannabis marketers may be able to talk more freely about their products on platforms such as Facebook, says Lisa Buffo, Founder and said. Chief Executive of the Cannabis Marketing Association.
“It’s a wide open space in Web3 … regulators haven’t wrapped their heads around it yet,” Ms Buffo said.
Higher Life CBD Dispensary LLC opened a store in December in Voxels, a Metaverse-like platform called Cryptovoxels until it was rebranded in May. The company partnered with Saucy Farms & Extracts LLC in February to take over the store’s second floor.
Virtual visitors cannot order Haier Life’s CBD products directly within the virtual store, but they can click on the counterfeit cash register to visit Haier Life’s website and order CBD products there.
Brandon Howard, chief executive of Haier Life, said about 1,000 people visit the store a day.
Saucy’s floor includes another cash register, which again leads to a website where visitors can shop, in this case for non-cannabis merchandise such as grinders.
Company co-founder Alex Todd said Saucy didn’t sell many items to visitors who clicked on its cash register. But Saucy expects that to change when more people join the metaverse.
It’s within five years of Metaverse being able to actually sell cannabis, Mr Todd said, predicting US federal regulations prohibiting sales of the product could ease in that time frame.
Meanwhile, NFTs can help Saucy spread awareness about the brand, especially as more people join the metaverse and look for clothing and accessories for their avatars, he said.
“It’s going to be a great tool for the cannabis space,” he said.
Cannabis brand Candy Girl, best known for selling THC-infused gummies that can be shipped to all 50 states, acquired land in Decentraland in December to promote the company and sell NFTs. It has sold and given away virtual wearables with NFTs, including feathers that look like marijuana leaves. Candy Girl said that its NFT sales in Decentraland have so far reached about $30,000.
But there currently aren’t enough users to take the effort to the next level, said Ben Boyce, chief marketing officer for Candy Girl, which is owned by Boyce Capital LLC.
“When a million people have logged into the Metaverse at any one time, it’s going to make sense for employees to [a virtual] dispensary with a real live human being,” said Mr. Boyce.
For now, cannabis brands are enjoying the relative freedom of the Metaverse, where they can use tactics that are often restricted on major digital advertising platforms like Meta Platform Inc.’s Facebook and Instagram and Alphabet Inc.’s Google.
Meta’s Community Standards ban content, whether paid advertising or unpaid organic content, “that seeks to buy, sell, trade, donate or gift or solicit marijuana.” Its advertising policies state that companies must not “promote the sale or use of illegal or recreational drugs.”
The Metaverse platform has different rules around cannabis. Roblox Corp. It states in its Terms of Use that this videogame platform “prohibits users from discussing, depicting or promoting illegal or highly-regulated activities.” Sandbox says that any metadata associated with a piece of the Platform’s digital real estate “may not link or include any content or material that is…illegal.” In Meta’s Horizon Worlds platform, any material depicting marijuana is prohibited.
But Decentraland and Voxels said they work with cannabis companies.
“We have supported various NFT cannabis communities – as long as they meet the terms and conditions,” said Adam De Kata, Head of Partnerships at Decentraland.
Decentraland Foundation creative director Sam Hamilton said cannabis companies opening in Decentraland need to comply with legal regulations, including not serving users in countries where the product is banned, which makes tools for the platform and Handles its marketing.
But “as a decentralized platform, it is not the foundation’s role to curate user-generated content or police the community’s vision,” said Mr. Hamilton.
Company founder Ben Nolan said Voxels bans selling cannabis on its platform, but doesn’t mind if its users open counterfeit dispensaries on its platform.
This story has been published without modification to the text from a wire agency feed