Every year, millions of Americans watch the Super Bowl, some just for the fabulous new commercials.
Next year, it's quite possible there's going to be an ad for marijuana.
This bizarre story begins with the company Intuit. USA Today reported in July:
The minuscule budgets of small businesses often hinder their marketing power. But now, one small firm will join mega marketers on the biggest advertising stage of all: the Super Bowl.
On Wednesday, software provider Intuit kicks off a contest that will award one small business with a 30-second Super Bowl XLVIII commercial. The third-quarter ad will likely be seen by more than 100 million viewers.
The contest was called Small Business Big Game.
Now enter the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws which submitted an entry last week and announced this week that it is now in first place in the voting.
But the fight has just begun. Future rounds of the contest include Intuit employees voting for the four finalists in late October, and then the world voting on the winner.
As such, coming in first in the opening round doesn't ensure victory, particularly as the Intuit employee vote could be a hurdle.
In 2011, Intuit revoked the merchant services account of an Oregon medical marijuana clinic for what it deemed "unacceptable business practice."
But things may have changed since then.
An Intuit spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday, “We have no stance on medical marijuana as a company...By design, we’ve had a diverse range of businesses entering Small Business Big Game and sharing their unique stories with the world.”
With that in mind, you might be watching a pot commercial with your family and friends this February.
As a humorous aside, the picture above comes from a blog at the San Francisco Chronicle website sfgate.com.
Pictured inside the marijuana leaf is a Miami Dolphins player.
Makes you wonder what that author was smoking!
