‘Sup Denverites?’: City of Denver’s cringeworthy ‘420′ post causes cannabis law confusion

DENVER (KMGH) – People across the country are celebrating the many benefits of cannabis Wednesday. The celebrations include the “4/20 festival” in Denver.

The city promoted the event on social media but quickly took the post down after pushback.

At a time when a lot of people are watching, it’s not a great look for the City of Denver. The city put up a cringeworthy post on Twitter and Facebook on April 19 in what appeared to be someone trying to sound hip.

After a greeting of “Sup Denverites?,” the post goes on to promote the Mile High 420 Fest happening at Civic Center Park on 4/20.

Their call to action, ‘Fight the stigma surrounding marijuana use’ ends with ‘don’t roll up without a ticket.’

To give some additional context, using pot in public is still not legal in Colorado, so the city’s confusing messaging lit a controversy on social media.

Jenny Schiavone, the city’s chief digital officer, said the post got more of a reaction than she thought it would.

“We definitely realized pretty quickly that we were inadvertently stirring up some controversy from the city side that we did not intend to do,” she said.

So much controversy was generated that the city took the unusual step of removing this post, saying they generally do not promote events not sponsored by the city.

And for anyone who thinks the city might be chill about 4/20, the Office of Marijuana Policy sent out a reminder that consumption of marijuana at the Mile High 420 Fest is strictly prohibited, even throwing in the threat of a prison sentence.

Schiavone said she could see how the city’s post caused confusion.

“In my role, I saw that confusion and I understand that maybe removing the post could cause a little bit of confusion as well,” she said. “Obviously, you know, we hope that we don’t make mistakes like this in our messaging and in our … brand content.”

The city has put up a replacement message on social media that’s not nearly as hip, emphasizing Denver’s still very strict consumption rules.

The festival will be restricted to attendees 21 years and older next year.