Up in smoke: 4/20 celebrations look very different this year

Yesterday was April 20 (abbreviated to 4/20 in the US), a date known for celebrating cannabis, especially in states and countries where it’s legal.

This year’s 4/20 was special: At one point, it was 4:20, on 4/20, in 4/20 (April 2020), a landmark date 1,000 years in the making.

But, of course, celebrations were interrupted this year by the coronavirus outbreak and social distancing measures. To understand how people celebrated instead, we used our Consumer Research product to analyze 1m English-language 4/20 social media mentions.

People were passionate about staying home, despite the special date. Nearly 50k people were clear about their intent to celebrate indoors to avoid spreading Covid-19. Meanwhile, 15k spoke about giving this one a miss altogether because of social distancing.

For those staying home, there were lots of ways to occupy themselves. 12k people discussed organizing online parties or chats, while Willie Nelson’s charity party with celebrity guests was the most talked about virtual event related to 4/20.

There were plenty of other shared experiences to be found online, too. 5.5k people posted throwback 4/20 pictures to pre-social distance days, while 5.6k people took part in a virtual smoke circles, posting pictures of themselves passing one around.

Ultimately, it’s not how cannabis fans originally planned to spend the day. But, like we’ve seen with many other events, the effort was made to come together to celebrate.

Streaming through lockdown

With an abundance of spare time on our hands, and plenty of subscriptions available, quarantine has given many people the time they craved to catch up on the TV shows and movies they always meant to watch.

But what is it that the people want to see? We looked at mentions of people talking about watching, or intending to watch, shows and movies across a variety of channels and streaming platforms.

The most common genre we found being discussed within these mentions, surprisingly, was horror. We live in scary times, so perhaps a bit of supernatural fiction from a safe distance is something that can help get us through.

We were interested to see horror outweigh documentaries, given the recent craze around a certain tiger-related title.

And we were also a little surprised to see that old, or classic, TV shows and movies were third on the list – above action and comedy. A bit of nostalgia is clearly in order.

To accompany our TV and movie data, we thought we’d have a look at how people are talking about subscriptions right now.

Tracking mentions of ‘cancel’ and ‘subscription’, we found that conversation around cancelling subscriptions of all kinds has been rising, peaking in late March.

The so-called ‘streaming wars’ are now being fought on a strange new battleground. In some ways, people have more reasons to subscribe to an entertainment service than ever before. But in others, with gloomy economic forecasts and many opting (as we’ve seen in a previous bulletin) to save their money, subscription services could take a hit.

Investing in improving horror, documentary, and classic movie/TV portfolios could be one way the entertainment giants catch and retain customers while lockdowns continue.

Widespread dissatisfaction with government financial aid

The world is facing one of the most severe economic crashes in history. With employment rates in a severe downward-spiral, millions of people are now out of work and running out of money.

Governments have been trying to mitigate the effects of this with financial support for businesses and individuals, although measures differ from country to country.

Using Qriously, we surveyed 6,025 adults from Australia, China, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, the UK, and the USA through their smartphones and tablets to find out what they think of their government’s financial support. ¹

Here’s what they told us.

On average, more people feel that the financial support offered by their governments is insufficient than those who feel it sufficient. Only in China, Australia, and the UK did the scales tip the other way.

This is particularly stark in Italy and Spain where 72% and 71% of respondents felt the support was insufficient. With the most confirmed cases in the world, along with some of the highest death tolls, widespread dissatisfaction with government measures is not surprising.

Australia’s more positive picture could be, at least in part, a reflection of their Covid-19 status. At the time of writing, the country has seen 71 deaths and 6,646 cases. Both of these numbers are far, far lower than the rest of the countries we surveyed. Meanwhile, China’s progress in bringing new case and death numbers down may explain their more positive outlook.

Of course, that is only one side of this story. We need to account for each country’s measures, too. For those looking ahead to the political outcomes of the Covid-19 pandemic, these numbers can give us some indication of what public opinion may look like down the line.

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Brandwatch Response Team

¹ Note: All surveys are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error. On the basis of the historical record of the polls at recent general elections, there is a 9 in 10 chance that the true value of a survey result lies within 4 points of the estimates provided by this survey, and a 2 in 3 chance that they lie within 2 points.