An online experiment demonstrates that sexualized cannabis advertisements increase intentions to use cannabis before sex in college students, suggesting gender-specific perceptual influences.
Sexual and romantic scripts are used to market cannabis products, now legal for adult-use in several U.S. states. We conducted an online experiment ( N = 747) examining the impact of viewing brand-generated social media posts promoting cannabis that included sexual, romantic, and non-sexual non-romantic recreational scripts among college students in Washington state. Increased perceptions that ads suggested cannabis enhances sex were associated with higher sex-related cannabis expectancies. Among men, wishful identification was associated with lower sexual risk expectancies among those who viewed sexual scripts and a greater likelihood of intending to use cannabis before sex among those who viewed sexual or romantic scripts. Among women, perceiving that ads suggested cannabis enhances sex was associated with a greater likelihood of intending to use cannabis before sex, whereas perceiving that ads suggested cannabis impacts sexual consent was associated with a lower likelihood of intending to use cannabis before sex. Additionally, wishful identification among women was associated with a greater likelihood of intending to use cannabis before sex. Findings highlight associations between perceptions of brand-generated social media posts, expectancies, and intentions to use cannabis before sex among college students and identify mechanisms through which effects may occur.
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Willoughby et al. (2026) studied this question.
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