GTEC defends pot tag line
Okanagan Edge Staff - Jan 21, 2020 - Biz Releases

Photo: Twitter

A Kelowna cannabis company found itself in hot water last week over a controversial marketing strategy.

GTEC Holdings Ltd. sparked some ire during the Lift Vancouver 2020 Expo with its BLK MKT cannabis product, as its tag line was “Once you go BLK …”

The product name is in reference to the black market, which in B.C. is renowned for producing top-quality cannabis. The tag line, meanwhile, is a play on the expression “Once you go black, you never go back” in reference to sexual relations with an African American.

Canadian cannabis activist Dana Larsen, who has more than 15,000 Twitter followers, was one expo attendee who was not impressed.

“When you’re trying to get street cred by calling yourself “Black Market” and end up just being racist instead. #BLKMKT,” he wrote.

Others chimed in on social media, criticizing the company, so GTEC issues a statement in response. Even though it defended the marketing slogan, it said it will not be using the tag line any longer.

“The BLK MKT brand was conceptualized and built by three individuals, two of which were people of colour,” the statement said. “The brand was considered relevant, interesting and ‘edgy’ in that it references the legacy cannabis market. When we solicited feedback on this brand concept from our employees, friends, family and industry experts, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

“Moreover, while it should be obvious, we would highlight that this brand has absolutely nothing to do with race.”

The company statement pointed out that GTEC’s chief executive officer, Norton Singhavon, is Chinese, its chief financial officer, Kendra Blackford, is female, and its marketing head, Adil Hirji, is of East African descent.

“We ran this idea by men and women of various ethnic groups, including those of African descent, and received no negative feedback,” the statement said. “Thus, while we knew that this tagline might be viewed as ‘edgy,’ we were confident that it would not be viewed by most people in a negative manner.

“Indeed, for the most part, other than a group of individuals on Twitter, it was well received. For example, of the thousands of individuals that passed by our booth at the two-day Lift Vancouver 2020 Expo, there was only one instance of a non-(person of colour) who felt it wasn’t a proper usage.”


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