This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Alcohol advertisers have long faced industrywide guidelines discouraging them from linking drinking with sexual success. Cannabis marketers have no comparable industrywide guidelines and may promote cannabis in connection with sex and intimacy.
A new Washington State University study suggests such messages may influence young adults' intentions to use cannabis before sex, with potential implications for sexual decision-making and consent. Published in Communication Research, the study found that college students who interpreted advertisements as suggesting cannabis use would result in better sex—whether the ads featured sexual themes or not—were more likely to expect those benefits and say they might use cannabis before sex. The findings come from an online experiment involving 747 Washington college students who viewed real cannabis ads posted on Instagram.
The results could ultimately help shape public health messages and inform advertising policies in a largely unregulated area. "We know from alcohol advertising that sexualized appeals can make a difference in how people understand the information presented," said Jessica Fitts Willoughby, a professor in WSU's Edward R. Murrow College of Communication and the study's lead author.
"Cannabis is a little different because there really aren't rules saying you can't tie it to sex." Willoughby and study co-author Stacey J.T. Hust, a professor in the Murrow College, designed their experiment differently from previous cannabis marketing studies. Rather than asking people to remember cannabis ads and other social media content they had encountered in the past, the researchers showed participants specific ads that had appeared on Instagram.
This allowed the researchers to examine how different people interpreted the same messages and whether those interpretations were connected to their expectations and intentions. Participants viewed ads featuring sexual, romantic or recreational imagery, such as people using cannabis in bed, couples in intimate settings and friends gathered around a bonfire. Researchers then asked what messages participants took from the ads, what they expected from using cannabis before sex and whether they intended to do so.
Simply seeing a sexual or romantic ad did not consistently predict viewers' answers. What mattered more was how they interpreted it. Those who believed an ad was promising better sex were more likely to expect cannabis to improve their own sexual experiences or reduce nervousness.
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