Drag stars serve on L.A. billboards for cannabis-infused tonic, Cann
Do you like a little sparkle with your high?
Well, according to Muse, Cann — a cannabis-infused tonic that bills itself as an alternative to hard seltzers, and developed in-house by mostly LGBTQ+ talent — has launched some drag-nificent billboards in the Los Angeles/Hollywood area. The bold billboards and installations feature some of our favorite queens — RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Symone and Gigi Goode, and House of Avalon’s Rosy Thorn. They are joined by musicians Vincint and Ken XY and actor/model Adam Powell.
“As a queer-founded beverage company, we had a unique opportunity during Pride Month to tackle a couple of issues that have been problematic in our industry,” Cann co-founder Luke Anderson tells Muse.
“First, many beverage brands choose to objectify women in marketing materials in order to drive sales—and sadly, it’s been rather effective in the past. Second, during Pride Month we often see brands slap a rainbow on their logo or create a limited-edition rainbow-colored SKU, which, although it’s nice to raise basic awareness, can tokenize the LGBTQ+ community.”
The brand decided to put its own spin on advertising by enlisting Marko Monroe and Grant Vanderbilt from queer design collective House of Avalon for design development. Together, they decided to reimagine the Fantanas, the dancing, singing, sexy girls from the old Fanta ads, as drag queens.
And yes, you will get a little bit of a… buzz. The ads describe Cann as an alcohol substitute “that gets you a tiny bit high from 2 mg of THC.” It also “elevates” the social drinking experience, building buzz while “canceling” hangovers, says Anderson.
“We are approaching Pride with intention—elevating queer artists at every touchpoint of the creative process,” Anderson says. “And if some heterosexual men walk by the ads and think ‘Wow, those girls are hot!’ then we will have a chuckle.”
Plus, “queer artists don’t often get the mainstream recognition they deserve,” he says, so spotlighting LGBTQ+ talent was essential.
The queens themselves also released statements about the ads.
“At this point, challenging gender norms doesn’t feel like a conscious decision anymore,” says Gigi Goode.
“I’ve learned a lot about myself this past year. I’m blurring the line between drag and out of drag, and I’m feeling very comfortable with the skin I’m in, so it’s really amazing to be showing all of me alongside my sisters. Being unapologetically gorgeous dolls high up on a billboard and we get to promote cannabis? Let me go tell my high school self what I’m up to — they would be so insanely proud.”
House of Avalon’s Rosy Thorn said: “It’s special to me because it is a celebration of my authenticity. Boundary-pushing, queer-owned businesses like Cann showing who we really are to the world just makes sense.”
