In short
UFCW Local 832 (UFCW) came to us with a clear-eyed mission: to bring attention and protocol changes to an industry sorely lacking in worker protection: the cannabis industry.
Their quest was rooted in lived experience: they’d successfully unionized a cannabis chain, and heard harrowing experiences from many workers who’d been robbed, harassed or worse at their jobs.
They needed us to help spread the awareness that when legalization came to life, unfortunately, legal parameters were not put in place to protect workers the same way government-regulated industries like liquor sales are.
We needed to execute a campaign that worked in phases to: collect the unsafe stories from workers; connect with workers who would want to help change things in their industry; and earn enough public attention and outcry that government would act on it.
Methodology
We knew the campaign needed to connect with a cannabis enthusiast culture—and so, we took our cues from the industry itself, mimicking product-label warnings to share the safety concerns of workers.
Knowing the product is heavily regulated, we drew a comparison to the comparatively low level of regulations regarding safety working in cannabis stores.
The campaign became: Let’s Be Blunt, Cannabis Workers Deserve Better.
The framework “let’s be blunt” was used to list the myriad ways cannabis workers are currently being let down by safety protocols. And the campaign first sought out to invite former and current cannabis workers to share how safe or unsafe they’re feeling at work.
The goal was to collect 100 stories or survey responses in a short 3-month period, then, bolstered by this info and what would make employees feel safer, UFCW would meet with government officials who would have to let them bend their ears to consider legislative changes.
Our idea of mimicking product ads had uscoming up against the legalities of cannabis ads—we landed on mimicking the product labels and style, but not featuring any actual products or depicting cannabis use to ensure we didn’t come across as promoting consumption.
Instead, the spoof of the label and “Let’s Be Blunt” tagline art anchored the campaign, with only a single pot leaf graphic bluntly depicting the industry in question.
Execution
We ran digital ads including a short 15-second video based on the anxiety-inducing effect of multiple pop-ups or warning labels populating onscreen across YouTube, Meta and Reddit.
All ads pointed to a landing page with
questions including sliding scales regarding workers’ feelings of security in stores and their suggested enhancements. We also geo-targeted our ads near cannabis stores to ensure we were reaching relevant workers, and had in-person material giveaways like magnets and matches to encourage covert sharing (à la Burn After Reading).
UFCW Local 832 knew they wanted to foster media engagement with the campaign, but they wanted to make sure their outreach aligned with workers’ needs and they felt safe speaking up.
UFCW Local 832’s organizing team reached out directly to every worker who completed the survey (if the worker opted in to being contacted) and visited 183 of the province’s 241 cannabis stores to have a conversation about their needs and concerns and provide resources they could use immediately to fight for safety improvements (even if they didn’t have an interest in organizing).
Thanks to the story collection phase of the campaign, our PR team was able to work with current and former workers to share powerful stories about their workplaces and the all-too-common instances of theft and harassment in their industry, earning 1.4 million impressions with pickup from the major local news outlets CTV Morning Live, CTV News and the Winnipeg Free Press.
Outcome
For the paid campaign, programmatic, Meta and Reddit ads drove 3.33 million total impressions, and the videos earned 879,000 views.
Reddit alone reached 1.28 million unique visitors, ensuring the campaign reached broad cultural visibility beyond paid social. The landing page also earned a 98% engagement and 1.99% bounce rate, showing a deeply engaged and appropriate audience.
We were able to drive 98 story submissions, just shy of the ultimate goal of 100.
But well beyond this, we successfully stirred up a cultural conversation, earning 31,170 clicks and 397 unique comments across Meta and Reddit.
Conversations drew on firsthand accounts of violence and unsafe conditions, sparking real discussions and heated debates, showcasing the issue’s cultural significance and the need for it to be addressed by government.
The results were telling: only 8% of workers surveyed said they feel safe all the time at work. The details of their responses also allowed UFCW Local 832 to deliver a five-point wish list of actions from government to respond to workers’ needs.
In November 2025, the union welcomed a new cannabis chain with three locations in Winnipeg.
Lessons Learned
When looking to stir up cultural conversations, it’s best to seek out the platforms where this is already occurring, like Meta and Reddit. We were able to simply “plant” a topic and seed responses thanks to the appropriateness and suitability of both the topic and platform for it.
When seeking voluntary responses from the cannabis workers, we also left fields open to them to share what would make them feel most safe, and what level of involvement they’d want with the campaign. Especially when someone’s safety has been put at risk, giving them full power and autonomy about how and if they speak up about it helps ensure we don’t inadvertently recall their past feelings of powerlessness.
“We did some additional work with the Let’s Be Blunt materials, such as visiting hundreds of stores in-person and using the campaign as a means to start a discussion with workers. It was really helpful to have a meaningful topic and to demonstrate that we were actively reaching out to all cannabis workers so we could speak out on their behalf after learning what their issues truly were. Our organizing team’s blitz did result in one new cannabis chain unionizing: Value Buds.
Since our media push, there has been ongoing conversations with the provincial government and legislator about specific workers and experiences that we heard about through this campaign and the Union is committed to continuing to push for legislated improvements for workers in this sector.”
—
Crystal Klippenstein,
Communications Coordinator, UFCW Local 832
