April is a month filled with holidays. For stoners, April 20 is a day to crank up the Tame Impala and give thanks and pay respect to all the pioneers who fought for their right to burn one in peace.
So far 18 states and the District of Columbia have legalized the adult use of cannabis. The
U.S. House of Representatives just passed the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act (or MORE Act) but it’s not expected to become the law of the land anytime soon, as The Man continues to harsh everyone’s buzz.
But even if it’s taking a while for the red, white and blue to go completely green, cannabis use has now become largely destigmatized and mainstream, as fully two-thirds of Americans support its legalization.
As a sign of just how “no big deal” cannabis has become, now the family friendly restaurant chain TGI Fridays is making a direct appeal to the marijuana enthusiast crowd by offering them a special meal on their special day.
So What Is TGI Fridays Baking Up?
Starting on April 20, TGI Fridays will offer up the Blazed & Glazed Bundle, which will be available exclusively through Uber Eats (UBER). The deal will run through May 4, but if you order on April 20, you will get $4 off your $20 order.
The Bundle will include three of TGI Fridays all-new Chicken Slammers, which are chicken tender sliders tossed in Whiskey-Glaze Blaze sauce, drizzled with spicy aioli and sesame seasoning on New England mini rolls. In order to make sure those munchies are fully satisfied, the bundle will include a side of seasoned fries topped with queso, mixed cheese, bacon and green onions.
While local pizzeria joints in urban locals have sometimes indulged in wink-wink nudge-nudge advertising aimed at the stoner crowd, and brands tend to get kinda silly on April 1st, even a few years ago it would have been seen as rather daring for a major franchise like TGI Fridays to so directly target stoners. But the times, they are-a changing man. Heck, they’re actually the second major chain to appeal to the stoner crowd this week, following Wingstop's similar limited edition glazed and blazed flavor.
Cannabis activities and companies have long argued that not only does the criminalization of marijuana disproportionately harm African-American communities, but it also leaves a lot of money on the table, to the tune of what’s now become a $61 billion dollar industry. So if you sell the sort of greasy, savory food that stoners are going to like, why not pitch directly to them?
“The Blazed & Glazed Bundle is the first TGI Fridays offering tied to 4/20. Whether our fans are celebrating 4/20 or just looking for something incredibly tasty, the Blazed & Glazed Bundle is a fun combo for our fans that is sure to satisfy that TGI Fridays crave. TGI Fridays does not condone any illegal activities,” said a TGI Fridays spokesperson in a statement to the street.
TGIFridays
420 Has Been Buzzing Lately
While the long-standing urban legend that 420 is a police code for marijuana possession has been largely disproven, stoners still adopt the number as their secret handshake, even if the secret’s been out for a while
That particular combination of numbers has been in the cultural air of late, as the popular social media comedian Elon Musk (who also has a sideline running an electric vehicle company) recently offered to buy Twitter for…$54.20 a share. Musk is very fond of weed-puns, so there’s no way that number wasn’t intentional.
(As to whether the 420 joke is a sign that the Tesla CEO was pulling another publicity stunt instead of making a serious offer, who even knows with this guy? Elon gonna Elon.)
Also, after much deliberation, yesterday New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced yesterday that cannabis will be fully legal for adult purchase, starting on…April 21st. The inability to make this happen one day earlier was instantly condemned on Twitter as nothing short of tragic. But even a day later, those Chicken Sliders will still probably be hittin’.
