Outdoor cannabis advertising in Oklahoma City: Spatial distribution and content analysis

Keywords: Health Geography, Outdoor Advertising, Cannabis, Built Environment
Session Type: Virtual Poster Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 05:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 06:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 21

Abstract

Potentially harmful content in outdoor advertising (e.g., billboards) may promote health-impeding behaviors among individuals who are exposed to it in everyday life. Since medical legalization in 2018, the state of Oklahoma has seen an influx of cannabis dispensaries and advertising for cannabis products. While cannabis has known therapeutic value when used medicinally (e.g., to treat seizures), the remarkably lax regulation on cannabis marketing in Oklahoma may also promote cannabis use that is problematic from a public health perspective (e.g., dependence; driving under the influence) among the general population. We examined the spatial distribution of medical cannabis advertising in relation to billboards that advertise gambling, unhealthy food, alcohol, and gun possession along a major freeway in Oklahoma City. A photographic inventory of the content of 230 billboards along the Interstate 35 in Oklahoma City was conducted over a period of three months. We coded the content depicted in each photograph as either non-harmful or potentially harmful (depicting cannabis, gambling, unhealthy food, alcohol, or firearms). The study is currently ongoing but initial results suggest that, since legalization, about 20% of the potentially harmful content along interstates in Oklahoma City is related to cannabis. This type of advertising in public space is growing rapidly, but it is protected as free speech by local authorities. Strategies to reduce potential public health harm may include limitations on outdoor advertising density and buffers for sensitive populations (e.g., schools).