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SBS raises marijuana debate with plants getting gassed or grown in Sydney and Melbourne

SBS is promoting its upcoming debate on its Insight show on whether medicinal marijuana should be legalised with a portable display allowing people to grow or gas synthetic marijuana plants.

The debate is set to be screened on October 7, with the  broadcaster promoting it with the portable stand, which is currently in henry dean Plaza near Central Station, and moves onto Melbourne’s Federation Square later this week.

It has been created by SBS’s creative agency Naked Communications, and allows people to either fertilise the fake plants, or spray them with pesticide, by voting yes or no to the question ‘Should marijuana be legal?’, with the plants growing or dying depending on the results over the week.

SBS Insights marijuana plants

People can vote by text, Twitter or the SBS website.

SBS director of marketing Amanda McGregor said: “The marijuana debate is a hot topic at the moment and SBS is continuing its role facilitating national conversation by reaching out beyond the program and asking Australians to join the debate.  The marketing campaign and activation is a creative, cost effective way for SBS to invite audiences to engage with the program about this much debated subject.”

Naked Communications CEO Carl Ratcliff said: “The idea of a billboard that updates in real time via social media and SMS text is such a simple and elegant idea and able to provide live intelligence into an evergreen debate: should cannabis be legal or not?”

There will also be tactical ‘coming soon’ posters in vacant shop windows in Sydney and Melbourne saying they could become marijuana related businesses like hydroponic suppliers, and asking people to vote. There will also be digital banner ads complementing the executions.

The mobile billboard was created by Habitat Media.

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