Maybe you’ve noticed that some of your favorite celebrities have gotten involved in the cannabis biz. These celebrities—instead of playing pretend on the story box, or singing nice songs for you to listen to, or doing professional things with a sportsball—are pushing cannabis in its many forms, involving themselves in marketing, endorsements, activism, and more.
There are the obvious ones, like Willie Nelson and Snoop Dogg, who have potentially consumed hundreds of pounds of cannabis over the decades. (No one has ever said, “I was not aware that Messrs. Nelson and Dogg enjoyed partaking of the pot weed. This is new and shocking information.”) Both have made cannabis part of their brands over the years, and lent their name to different cannabis endeavors, such as websites, strains of weed, and vape cartridges.
But perhaps the foremost name associated with cannabis is one who’s no longer with us: Bob Marley. Marley’s widow Rita and his 11 children formed Marley Natural, which is backed by investment group Privateer Holdings, who have raised $200 million for the brand. Privateer Holdings CEO Brendan Kennedy has even been quoted saying, “Bob Marley is more closely tied to the product than anyone we could think of. In some places people even say, ‘Let’s go smoke a Bob Marley.’” (No, “they” do not, Brendan. No one wants to get high with someone who says that.)
And the phrase “closely tied to the product” is telling. Not “weed” or “marijuana” or “cannabis”—he said the “product.” A lot of celebrities get involved in cannabis businesses because the high it provides is strictly in terms of return on investment.
