Today, Intuit announced the 20 finalists who moved on to Round 3 of their “Small Business, Big Game” contest. Despite finishing first in the initial round of public voting (Intuit removed the ability to sort by vote popularity during the second round) and generating hundreds of media hits through Round 2, Intuit, for reasons not communicated to NORML, decided not to advance our entry to the latest round in the contest.

(NOTE: Intuit had opened the contest up to non-profit organizations, which NORML is. We also met their requirements in both staff and budget for being a “small business”)

“It is unfortunate that Intuit seems to be relying more on outdated political values instead of overwhelming public opinion when it comes to selecting which entries advanced in their contest,” noted NORML Communications Director Erik Altieri, “As demonstrated by the outpouring of support and positive media coverage for our entry, the country was ready and eager to see an ad for sensible marijuana law reforms during the most watched TV program of the year. This could’ve been a win for all groups involved, but instead Intuit will likely have only generated ill will for itself amongst the 58% of Americans who now support ending our country’s war on marijuana.”

Though NORML has been excluded from Round 3 of the contest, our entry was covered by countless media outlets across the country. You can view a list of some of these media stories below:

Fox Business Network

Fox Business Network Part 2

East Bay Express

Cleveland.com

Digital Journal

NY Daily News

USA Today

Advertising Age

TIME

Huffington Post

Seattle Pi

Business Week

CNBC

AOL (video also aired on local news stations)

Inquisitr

Death and Taxes

The Weed Blog

Sports Illustrated

Brand Channel

The Daily Chronic

Think Progress

KTVB (Local Broadcast Idaho)

WHAS11 (Broadcast Channel Kentucky)

Reason

Democrat and Chronicle

SportsGrid

DownTrend

The Tennessean

Courier Journal

Medical Daily

HNGN

Opposing Views

Leafly

Newsbusters

Marshfield News Herald

Stevens Point Journal

WebProNews

Elite Daily

NewsMax

DrugFree.org

Celebrity Cafe

UPI

NORML would like to thank all of those who supported us in this effort. Thanks to your passion, Super Bowl Ad or not, we still took the message of legalization across the country and generated substantial conversation on this important issue. As PR expert Peter Madden stated on our entry to USA Today, even without an ultimate victory in the contest, NORML already won big. “This isn’t PR gold,” Madden stated, “It’s PR platinum.”

Share this: Twitter

Facebook

