The Importance of Raising Hemp Awareness

by David Marcus

Now that Canada’s first commercial hemp crop is harvested, dried, baled and cleaned, Canadian hemp entrepreneurs must focus on taking this domestically grown hemp to market in all of its various forms. Whether you’re a larger producer with pre-contracted production, a small scale grower with a commercial research plot, or a retailer carrying hemp products, the reality is the same: raising consumer awareness is critical. There’s no question that farmers are interested in growing hemp, but in order for their efforts to be sustained, the market for hemp products must be grown.

There are certainly no shortages of selling points -hemp’s versatility, its eco-friendliness, the strength of its fibre and the nutritious and dermatological benefits of its seeds - but how does an industry in its infancy get these messages out?

Certainly, the first commercial harvest in 60 years attracted a significant amount of media attention this summer, but now that the honeymoon is over, so will be the majority of the exposure. Efforts of the media savvy Body Shop promoting its line of hemp body care products have also been invaluable in raising the mainstream consumer’s awareness of hemp oil’s benefits for dry skin, but what of the protein rich hemp seed or the strength and durability of hemp fibre?

In an industry characterized by a large number of small players with limited resources, hemp marketing and consumer education must be a cooperative effort, by and for the industry as a whole. Following is a look at two initiatives, one regional and one national, which are taking this approach, thus far with promising results.

Hemp Can Help is a national campaign which is seeking to raise donations of hemp grain (seed) from Canadian hemp farmers for international famine relief efforts. Although the vast majority of hemp grown in Canada this past summer was grown for grain, hemp is still conceived of by most of the public as rope (followed all too often by the tired refrain "can you smoke it?").

One of Hemp Can Hemp’s mandate is to maximize public exposure of the concerted efforts of hemp farmers from across Canada who are generously donating a potion of their crop of hemp seed to those in the world most in need. In addition to managing the logistics of collecting the donations and ensuring that the seed makes its way to its intended recipients, an emphasis of Hemp Can Help will be on educating the public of hemp’s great nutritional potential.

On more of a local level, the University of Toronto’s radio station CIUT(89.5FM) has initiated a hemp education campaign. As a ‘community radio station’ its listeners tend to be of a more socially conscious nature, and are within the middle to high disposable income range and are spread throughout the Greater Toronto Area. Rick Vassallo, CIUT’s advertising manager and a station programmer has targeted this audience with an awareness campaign sponsored by local hemp producers and retailers, based on a two part format.

First, a series of ‘hemp information spotlights’ will be part of the station’s regular programming, highlighting various uses and benefits of hemp as well as bits of hemp trivia. These spotlights will be followed by a 15 second advertisement specific to one of the campaign's hemp sponsors, featuring such details as product information, store location, etc. For only $350, sponsors will receive 24 of these 15 second inserts (less than $15/insert), while the hemp community as a whole benefits from the educational hemp spotlight.

For more information on how you can be involved in either of these efforts, please contact: Hemp Can Help, tel: 416-535-3497, fax: 416-535-1616; Rick Vassallo, CIUT, tel: 963-4934, fax: 416-963-4926.



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