Students for Sensible Drug Policy

Facebook rejected this ad from SSDP

The Proposition 19 campaign, which aims to legalize marijuana in California and make it taxable, has two problems: It's struggling to raise money and to purchase ad space with what little money it has.

The Prop. 19 campaign has raised a little over $525,000 to spread its message, but some media outlets are just saying ‘no’ to ad dollars if they support the legalization effort. Last week, Conde Nast told its link-aggregation site reddit.com that it could no longer sell Prop. 19 ads. And earlier this month, Facebook rejected advertising from pro-Prop. 19 group Just Say Now, whose ads included the image of a pot leaf.

The decisions highlight the question of whether an ad promoting the legalization of marijuana is a political advertisement or an ad for an illegal drug.

Facebook spokesperson Annie Ta said in an e-mail that the company's advertising policy prohibits the "paid promotion of illegal content." "When we find this,” she wrote, “we take action as necessary."

Conde Nast sent a statement to reddit stating, "As a corporation, Conde Nast does not want to benefit financially from this particular issue."

Critics of the decision to ban pro-pot ads say the companies are out of touch with their audience.

Reddit has at least five topic-pages devoted to marijuana. In response to comments about the prevalence of toke-talk on reddit, Conde Nast spokesperson Mistrella Murphy wrote in an e-mail: "We understand that conflict and difference of opinion flow especially freely in this forum. There are times when business decisions provoke such a vocal and free-spirited crowd, and understand that the debate is part of what makes reddit unique." Murphy said Conde Nast would not comment on its advertising policy in response to requests for comment.

Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), a national nonprofit advocacy group, ran into a roadblock back in May when it tried to buy ad space on Facebook. The site rejected an SSDP ad that read, "Help Legalize Marijuana: Education, Not Incarceration."

Jonathan Perri, SSDP associate director, said he received an e-mail from Facebook that stated: "We do not allow ads for marijuana, political ads for marijuana, or any other products related to marijuana, and will not allow the creation of any further Facebook Ads for this product."

"The fact is this is an issue that's really important to Americans," Perri told The Bay Citizen. "Facebook is essentially blocking political speech here."

Dan Newman, spokesperson for another pro-Prop. 19 group called Yes on 19, saw a silver lining to the advertising embroglio.

"The controversy is great news," he said. "Ultimately the corporations will do the right thing and support freedom of speech."

Not all media avenues are closed, however. Google has run pro-Prop. 19 ads as it would any political ads, according to Google spokesperson Diana Adair.

"Google allows ads that advocate for a particular political position regardless of the views that they represent," Adair wrote in an e-mail.