On April 20, a holiday for people who like appetite enhancers, Ben & Jerry’s is debuting an ice cream-filled burrito in its scoop shops.
Sorry, I meant “BRRR-ito”,
“We’re always on the hunt for new ways to eat our ice cream. What better way than wrapped in a BRRR-ito?!? Your two favorite flavors, topped with a fudge drizzle and cookie crumbs, all wrapped up in a soft and chewy waffle wrap. It’s how we roll! Coming April 20th to Ben & Jerry’s scoop shops!” says the company.
And to promote this creation, with which I have no problem, Ben & Jerry’s have created an ad that parodies one of the most famous ads of all time.
Your regular ice cream sandwich sucks, bruh. You need to be freed from the groupthink.
Looks familiar, right?
Once again, I have absolutely no issues with Ben & Jerry’s stuffing ice cream inside a waffle burrito and shoving it in stoners’ faces. Absolutely no problem with this.
While the Twitter trends have moved onto other 4/20 anniversaries like Hitler’s birthday and the Columbine tragedy, the celebration surrounding today’s date, and the plant the celebration focuses on has not been pushed aside. There’s still weed-related content hitting the tubes, like the latest music video from CollegeHumor.com.
Never one to overlook a particular date’s significance, College Humor has once again brought us the power of parody via music video. This time, it’s Beyonce’s “Countdown” that’s getting the treatment, and the parody hits all the notes at almost a pitch-perfect rate. Come for the Reddit reference, stay for cuties enjoying the Devil’s weed in many smokeable forms:
As you probably already know, today is 4/20, and while this particular day might not hold any special significance for some, plenty of people celebrate it as a holiday.
And within the subset of people who recognize April 20th and National Weed Day, there are few titans of the culture who stand taller than Snoop Dogg. Let’s just say this: In a recent AMA session on reddit, the staff of High Times magazine was asked which celebrity they’ve met smokes the most. Their unequivocal answer: “Snoop! WITHOUT A DOUBT.”
And Snoop, never the shy one about his hobbies, has embraced 4/20 with a “very special message” that just hit YouTube, courtesy of Noisey. You can check it out below:
Ok, so it’s a nice little video that shows just how fun it is to be Snoop, smoking in Jamaica or something. But as one YouTuber asks, “Wait…what was the very special message?” Other than the message of hey, it’s 4/20, let’s all have fun, it appears that it could be a teaser for the upcoming album/documentary package Reincarnated, which will be Snoop’s 12th studio album.
He announced the project back in February on Facebook:
Snoop is celebrating, as is the entire internet. Of all the pop-culture holidays that spring up, 4/20 might be one of the most popular. And for your participants out there, FYI, it’s also National Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Day.
Say what you will about a bunch of teens-to-twenty-somethings celebrating the act of being stoned all day, but at least all of the 4/20 celebrations take the focus off of Adolph Hitler, who shares a birthday with what has now become “National Weed Day.” Granted, Hitler’s historical significance remains intact, but why would the people of the Internet, at least who keep social media trends going, care about that kind of depression? Today is a day to celebrate being trendy with marijuana.
One wonders, however, how many people celebrating 4/20 will get caught up watching a History Channel marathon on that very subject?
As for the significance of today’s date, and why marijuana enthusiasts celebrate today’s date so openly, after sifting through a ton of rumors–it was the first day acid was taken, it’s the criminal code for marijuana-related busts in California–the official origin of the date’s “meaning” was revealed by High Times editor, Steve Hager:
Several times over the past few years, HIGH TIMES has attributed “420” to a code used by the San Rafael police department. However, the department has always denied this and I’ve come to the conclusion they are telling the truth. I was recently contacted by a group known as the “Waldos,” who claim to have originated 420 in San Rafael in 1971. The group began meeting every day at 4:20 PM after school and eventually began to use 420 as a code for marijuana so they could talk about pot in front of parents and teachers.
From there, the date’s popularity has grown and grown to the point where the act and the date’s meaning is openly talked about on Twitter and other social media outlets:
Yes, that is Rihanna’s official Twitter, and just to show she does not care about what anyone thinks about her love for weed, there’s this little exchange:
What precipitated that, however, was a now-apparently-deleted tweet from the MTV account that said, “Yikes. @Rihanna’s marijuana photos from Coachella spark controversy…” That led directly to Rihanna’s “ran out of ***ks to give” tweet. Clearly, she doesn’t care if you care about the support she shows for the somehow-still-illegal plant.
Other Twitter accounts capitalized on the day’s significance with creative tweets of their own:
Thanks to the popularity of the Pineapple Express movie, there’s little doubt @Foodimentary was saving that gem for today. The 4/20 love continues, and it’s clearly big in the rap community:
I wonder if Microsoft/Bing approves of one of their spokespersons being so open with his love for weed? Anyway, as you might expect, Snoop got in on the 4/20 love as well:
Anonymous is launching a full-scale on-line campaign for the legalization of marijuana, dubbed OpCannabis.
They will launch this Friday, April 20, the smoker’s holiday, having started phase one of the campaign by releasing the video and statement below. On 4/20, expect them to hack anti-marijuana websites.
Anonymous has asked supporters to turn their social media profile pictures green as an act of solidarity for the cause.
In the last few years, medical marijuana dispensaries have been subjected to aggressive crackdowns from the feds. A tip of the hat to SFWeekly for drawing our attention to the above clip from Bill Maher. I won’t really go into the pros and cons of the legalization of marijuana. Odds are you have your own polarized views on the subject and are not likely to change them. Activists have been trying to change the laws unsuccessfully for years. Only time will tell if Anonymous will make a difference. My guess, probably not.
Dear Citizens of the World,
For far too long cannabis has been oppressed by big corporations, big pharma and governments when it could be benefiting all of mankind on many different levels. We have heard and we have watched your government lie and deceive you on all the dangers of cannabis. Show support by making your profile pictures green this April 20th on your social network profiles.
OpCannabis phase 1, initiated. We are Anonymous…..Expect us.
Attention individual people, governments, companies and fellow Anons!
We are Anonymous and we have an important message for you:
Plato said that it was ok to tell a lie ONLY if it truly benefits all of mankind. Plato called this lie the “noble lie.” For far too long there has been a lie that has been perpetrated but it is neither noble nor does it benefit all of mankind, actually quite the opposite… the cannabis plant is one of the world’s oldest and best medicines that has been known as beneficial for thousands of years!
It can replace many medicines and can be made into many different things such as plastics and fuels and paints etc. The bounds of this plant are limitless, we ALL are effected by illness such as cancer, diabetes, Crohn’s disease, chronic pain, mental illness, alcohol abuse and a myriad of other physical and mental disorders. Cannabis had been proven over and over to help or even cure and reverse the effects of these diseases that will affect us all at some point in our life!
Yet it is kept from the people who need its curing powers by governments, big corporations, by big pharmaceutical companies because it is a threat to the money they make! They make more money off you being sick so they do not want you to have a cure, these people do not truly care about your wellbeing only the money they will make from your illness!
Since it is an easily grown plant that can be grown freely by anyone they have made it an illegal Schedule I drug. Cannabis has been oppressed by the powers that be that are afraid of its true benefits, and these benefits do help all of mankind!
So cannabis fits the criteria for Anonymous’ support. We ask that all Anons and individuals please support the legalization efforts in any way possible! Even simply signing a petition or sharing info or even just having an open mind about the subject will help!
We ask you to please educate yourself on its many benefits and share these benefits with your sick or injured friends. We all know somebody that has cancer or diabetes and cannabis has helped or cured both and many other disorders!
Anonymous will begin its support for the legalization of marijuana on 4/20/12. So please show your support by educating yourselves and making your profile pic or timeline banner on your social services accts green or 420 friendly.
We have all seen the power of the SOPA blackout so Anonymous feels that we can help cure the world simply by everyone showing their support for this most beneficial plant! We must end the prohibition of cannabis!!
These oppressors make trillions of dollars off of the war on drugs by keeping their privately owned jails overcrowded with nonviolent drug offenders! We are approaching the 11 billion dollar mark that the government has spent on the drug war this year alone and have put millions of nonviolent offenders behind bars. This is a true crime against humanity and needs to end!
Saying cannabis is a dangerous drug and is not a medicine is NOT a noble lie… it is simply a lie!
WE ARE ANONYMOUS.
WE ARE LEGION for legalization!
WE DO NOT FORGIVE the crimes of the War on Drugs.
WE DO NOT FORGET our brothers + sisters locked up because of it.