"Ran accross this on MSNBC's website. Thought I would share."


Nevada Burning Man Festival Sees Giant Aerial marijuana Bud Banner That Protests Hydroponics Hijacking --Hydroponics Company Flies marijuana Bud Banner at Nevada Burning Man Festival



By: PR Newswire | 04 Sep 2009 | 03:01 AM ET
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SEATTLE, Sept 04, 2009 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- On the day that the Man burns at the legendary Nevada Burning Man event this year in the Black Rock Desert, partiers will see a giant marijuana bud banner flying overhead.
The huge banner, which has already flown over Seattle Hempfest and San Francisco, features a glistening marijuana flower, along with lettering that asks the question "Want Big, Sugary Buds?" The controversial banner is the brainchild of Michael "Big Mike" Straumietis, co-founder of international hydroponics nutrients manufacturer Advanced Nutrients.
"We fly this banner to protest the hydroponic hijacking of our industry by a cadre of good old boys who ration information, goods and services to orchestrate a takeover of hydroponics commerce that hurts growers, retailers and vendors," says Straumietis.
Ever since he went public with his protests, Straumietis has drawn widespread applause for his documented claim that five hydroponics companies (Hydrofarm, Sunlight Supply, General Hydroponics, Botanicare and Technaflora) have used waste and abuse to interfere with the free flow of hydroponics information, goods and services.
Straumietis notes that Americans spend hundreds of millions of dollars per year on hydroponic equipment and supplies and the majority of those materials grow medical marijuana.
"I hear serious complaints about the good old boys hydroponics hijacking," Straumietis says. "From sick and dying medical marijuana patients discouraged from growing their own medicine because the good old boys ration and deny access to hydroponics information. From hydroponics retailers sick of the good old boys interfering with the open market. From hydroponics inventors and manufacturers indignant about the good old boys blockading access to the hydroponics marketplace." Unlike the Burning Man Project, in which tens of thousands of people show up to co-create a desert democracy community every year, the good old boys' hydroponics hijacking runs the hydroponics industry like a medieval kingdom, Straumietis charges.
"These powerful hydroponics companies and distributors act like brutal dictators," Straumietis says. "Medical marijuana is legal in 13 states, but the good old boys refuse to test or design their products for marijuana, which limits the effectiveness of marijuana medicine. They won't let customers, hydroponics stores or hydroponics magazines discuss marijuana. They deny information and access to growers, companies and vendors." Straumietis notes that ever since Advanced Nutrients was founded in 2001, it has chipped away at the good old boys' near-stranglehold on hydroponics commerce by creating a new generation of scientifically-designed nutrients and supplements that greatly improve the yield and potency of medical marijuana.
Tired of "dirty tricks" and monopoly tactics from the good old boys, Straumietis created his airborne bud banner that's half the size of a football field. The flying sensation made its eye-popping debut over the Maximum Yield Indoor Gardening Expo in San Francisco on July 26 and it also flew over Seattle Hempfest in August. After Burning Man, the banner flies over Southern California on Labor Day weekend.
"The energy, cooperation and passion of Burning Man will flourish in the hydroponics industry when we force the good old boys to stop their hydroponic hijacking," Straumietis says. "I issued a million dollar challenge for the good old boys to use their best nutrients against mine and see who grows the biggest, most potent buds. They're afraid to accept my challenge. But I will not rest until the good old boys have stopped harming patients, retailers and vendors." To preview a video on YouTube, please visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG9G8i5E-Fo
Media Contact:
Advanced Nutrients
604-854-6793
media@advancednutrients.com SOURCE Advanced Nutrients URL: http://www.advancednutrients.com www.prnewswire.com Copyright (C) 2009 PR Newswire. All rights reserved -0- KEYWORD: Washington INDUSTRY KEYWORD: BIO
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Wow. Good for Big Mike and Advanced Nutrients helping the medical marijuana community. Didn't realize they were so committed to the cause.

I have to give him props for that - and for one ballsy advertising campaign. He must really believe in what he's selling.

Now, we just need to legalize canna and life would be perfect...

It's what they call a "Sales pitch".

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Really? You think that a sincere apology is a sales pitch? I have to say I think it's pretty darn cool that he's admitting that he did something wrong.

I personally have more respect for Advanced Nutrients after reading that. Big Mike realizes that he messed up and is saying that he's sorry.

If he didn't say he was sorry, I'm sure someone would come out and point that out too. The guy really can't win, can he?

Seems to be a stand up guy to me.

Where does it mention an apology.
He says that all his competition sucks and you should buy from him.

Here's how he put it. "Straumietis notes that ever since Advanced Nutrients was founded in 2001, it has chipped away at the good old boys' near-stranglehold on hydroponics commerce by creating a new generation of scientifically-designed nutrients and supplements that greatly improve the yield and potency of medical marijuana."

It's nothing more then an ad campaign IMO.
Actually it's printed on the banner "Want Big, Sugary Buds?"
LMFAO Stand-up guy? I think not. Salesman? Yes.
On top of that, WTF is Sugary Buds?

__________________
L.O.W. T.H.C. starts with an imbalance in one of these;
Light Oxygen Water Temperature Humidity Co2 My Youtube grows

Dude, you're right. You know what I read about that whole deal? Here's what I was thinking about when I posted....found it on another forum somewhere. Must have read it right before I stumbled into this thread.

Hey-I made a spectacular mistake and I’m sorry.

It’s not often I have to write a letter like this. At Burning Man this year I made a decision to fly the Advanced Nutrients Bud Banner.

It was a mistake to do it and I humbly apologize for that. The last thing I wanted to do was interfere with the vibe that was happening there.

As CEO of Advanced Nutrients I take full responsibility and the decision to fly the banner at Burning Man lays squarely on my shoulders alone.
In 1986 when Larry Harvey and Jerry James burned a wooden man and small wooden dog on the beach in San Francisco. Harvey described his reason for burning the effigies as an “act of radical self expression.”

When I did my research on Burning Man (obviously not enough) and read Harvey’s statement. I mistakenly thought that flying our Bud Banner was just that.

People that are aware of our company’s position in our community realize that the message on the Bud Banner transcends its self to a much deeper meaning.

And stands for a voice in our community that is currently shunned by the controlling corporations that should be servicing our community rather than censoring us.

Because of this censorship, Advanced Nutrients has fewer places to go to reach our community of medical marijuana patients and growers.
Burning Man has a large number of our community members there.

I’m not trying to make excuses here, just trying to let you see what was going on in my head and what lead me to make this mistake.

Only now do I realize just how much of a screw-up I made.

I promise you that you’ll never see the Bud Banner at Burning Man ever again. And I fully understand by the many letters I’ve received just how grievous of an error in judgment I made.

Again, I deeply and humbly apologize for any disruption I caused you.

Big Mike


So my bad. I'm a burner and yeah, that wasn't cool what he did, but when I found out that Big Mike apologized, I have to say I think he meant it.

Let me go stand in the corner now for being a stoner who can't read...

No big deal, we all make mistakes.
It's how we act afterwards that defines us.

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L.O.W. T.H.C. starts with an imbalance in one of these;
Light Oxygen Water Temperature Humidity Co2 My Youtube grows

i dont like how he hates on the nute companies when his is the pricyiest of them all honestly i would love to try them but i dont have the money to spend on all their nutes

I don't know about all the rest, but I for one am not so quick to decide anything good for someone else is automatically bad for me.

So what if AN makes money as a result of this? Good for them, I say. They've got families to feed just like everyone else and they're fighting to make the world a better place by pushing for legalization. If they make a buck along the way so much the better.

I make my money by working for someone willing to pay for my time. That puts food on my table. If I were a craftsman who sold a product it's the same thing. There's no evil in advertising yourself.


And before anyone says it, yes, I like Advanced Nutrients. I'm such a fan of their nutes I put a tiny little AN logo in my avatar so yes, I'm biased. It's no more necessary to say I'm baised in favor of AN than it is for someone else to say they're biased against AN.

But the way I see it they're the only company out there trying to make sure everyone knows as much of the truth as they can get their hands on, and who's fighting every day to legalize MJ. To me that means they're one of the few if not the only nute company I'm willing to be a cheerleader for.

I don't understand how he can rip on the wholesale suppliers. It's basic commerce. You want to get your stuff out there, you go to distributors and try to get them to carry your products. The distributors take a small percentage and sell to retail outlets. The MSRP of a product is just that: the MANUFACTURERS Suggested Retail Price. Some people sell it for 10% less to get the customers in the door, others are small operations and have to sell it for slightly higher (to cover the cost of freight and their store overhead). As a person who has been ordering/running a store for nearly 8 years, and someone who orders from Hydrofarm, I find Big Mike's statements ridiculous. If he wanted to save the Medical community, why doesn't he make his SRP's lower?