How do you market an edgy product?

Though it may seem so, marketing is not necessarily an easy task. On the surface, yeah, all you are doing is promoting products in a way that consumers find appealing, and one may think that is an easy feat. However, finding out how people will react to certain campaigns and finding out what people's preferences are can be a fairly taxing and tedious process. Also, there is vast diversity among consumer preferences that it is nearly impossible to appeal to an entire population. Everyone has their own personal beliefs and preferences. It is a marketer's job to find out how many people share those beliefs in order to market a product. 

Marketing can be a difficult enough task on it's own, but how do you market a product that a large percentage of the population views as edgy or socially unacceptable? In my opinion, the United States is overly sensitive on many topics. For instance, consider the debate on marijuana. While the drug does have drawbacks, those drawbacks can be considered minimal when compared to the risks associated with tobacco and alcohol use. However, because of how much of the public views the narcotic, it is difficult to market the product in an appealing way.

One way that is used to market the product is to extract the active ingredient from the plant and infuse it into other products like candy and baked goods. These are called edibles and come in a large variety of ways and strengths. Again, this faces much hate and ridicule as it can be mistaken for a normal treat. It is also extremely difficult to market anything that has to do with marijuana as it is still illegal in the majority of states. These legal barriers force dispensaries to market their goods in less traditional ways. For instance, packaging is becoming a leading way to attract new customers in the professional and older populations. The traditional packaging of buds in a Ziploc bag has graduated to branded and more sophisticated packaging. Also, as seen in the image above, parody branding can be used to attract the younger generations that may or may not already be users. But again, that poses a threat to those that may accidentally mistake the edible for the normal candy bar that they are used to. Many dispensaries are also expanding into the drink industry. Each of the above ways are excellent ways to market the good as they are creating customers by expanding the products in the industry, however, new laws and regulations are very common in this industry and constantly create new obstacles for providers to overcome.

Other examples of products that are tough to market include birth control pills and abortion clinics, illegal automotive accessories or removal of automotive parts such as the catalytic converter, and countless other goods and services.