California edibles company Altai Brands has apologized for using a woman as a serving board for cold cuts at a party in Las Vegas during the Marijuana Business Conference & Expo last week. The party took place at House of Blues on Nov. 15.
The company issued the following statement:
"Altai Brands sincerely regrets a poor decision we made during a private event in Las Vegas by having a professional model act as a physical server for charcuterie. It did not demonstrate the respect that we have for all women. We pride ourselves on representing California cannabis culture at its finest and we are committed to maintaining a community that recognizes and values the inherent dignity of every person, by fostering sensitivity, understanding and mutual respect of our customers, employees and partners. The team at Altai is dedicated to making sure that all future events meet our high standards that reflect the core values we live each and every day. Again, we would like to apologize to the community and hope to demonstrate our firm dedication to respectful treatment of all to assure everyone this will never happen again."
Also taking heat is party co-sponsor Dixie Elixirs, who also issued an apology for their unwitting involvement. Joe Hodas responded to on particularly angry thread on Facebook:
"I am the CMO at Dixie. I wanted to let all on this thread know that not only did we not sponsor that event but that we totally agree with you. I hadnt been able to reach out to altai until this afternoon but i now have (I am currently in amarillo,Texas having left for our annual family road trip upon returning from vegas). Truly...Altai kindly included us as as 'sponsor' because they are our distributor. But we paid no money, had no presence beyond a logo and had no knowledge of or input into the event. As a father of three which includes an 8 yr old girl, a husband of one for 20 yrs and someone who is very conscious of how women are objectified in our society and/or treated in our world....the Dixie brand starts and ends with me. I assure you we had nothing to do with it. And in fact...if you were there you would have found many brands with full displays and engagement. But not dixie. At the end of the day, our logo was there and as such i have to take full responsibility. But for all of you who are upset, and even those who arent, please know that we are addressing it and that we did not condone it. If we share any friends in common, please ask them if this is something I would have approved of for Dixie, and i am willing to guarantee they will tell you no. Please provide Dixie with some benefit of the doubt in this situation.Thank you."
If you attended this event, please let us know.
