My Bud Vase ad by High Herstory. Video screenshot from My Bud Vase: The Bong Song!

High Herstory, a female-focused video agency, created and produced the first live-action advertisement of its kind — running on a digital billboard frequently purchased by brands like Samsung in New York City’s Times Square.

High Herstory’s ad features a diverse selection of women consuming cannabis while educating viewers on the care and keeping of glass smoking accessories. In the cannabis industry, heavily regulated products come with heavily regulated advertising restrictions, oftentimes eliminating a cannabis brand’s ability to participate in mainstream marketing and media practices altogether. Just last year, Honeysuckle Magazine, an award-winning, women-owned, internationally distributed media company, spearheaded a historic initiative that empowered cannabis brands to run on a Times Square billboard for the first time in history.

Modeling the ad in the form of a musical number, High Herstory’s video was created for luxury bong company My Bud Vase and is inspired by traditional commercial campaigns for brands like Olay and Lumie. The cannabis industry, led by forward-thinking women including High Herstory, My Bud Vase, and Honeysuckle Magazine, are finding creative ways to bypass the censorship of cannabis content that they’ve experienced firsthand on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. This strategy was executed in hopes of eradicating decades of negative stigmas surrounding cannabis consumption in a public area with plenty of foot traffic.

“Seeing the video span three stories in Times Square felt like a special moment for New York cannabis culture. We are so excited to change perceptions through our work,” says High Herstory Co-Founder, Jenny Joslin. “I am proud that our ads tend to feature a diverse selection of women from many walks of life,” says Annette Mia Flores, Co-Founder of High Herstory. “Directing a set full of women with their own unique narratives and experiences with cannabis is special. Creating a fun piece of art together, in hopes of shattering stigma and negative perceptions, was very powerful for us. Our common goal was palpable and inspiring,” continues High Herstory Co-Founder, Kendall Watkins.

High Herstory’s billboard is strategically placed above street level, and situated directly across from the NASDAQ, on W 43rd Street and Broadway.