Brands & Merch

Alleged pot smoker Bieber to launch cash card

By | Published on Monday 7 January 2013

Justin Bieber

Now Justin Bieber is smoking, you’d think the Bieber cigarette line would be an obvious cash-in, and you could bundle it together with one of the popster’s perfume products, so his teenage fans can cover up the smell after having a sneaky smoke. And if it really was pot he was puffing last week, which TMZ reckons it was, then all the better, given the moves in some American states to legalise marijuana while it becomes ever harder to consume a conventional cigarette.

But alas, that would be a brand extension too far, it seems. Rather, the Bieber took to Twitter this weekend to post a slightly ambiguous ‘I must try harder’ message after TMZ’s photos of the pop teen smoking circulated online. He wrote: “Everyday growing and learning. Trying to be better. U get knocked down, u get up … I see all of U. I hear all of U. I never want to let any of you down. I love U. and … thank U … like I said… 2013… new challenges. New doubters… I’m ready. We are ready. See u all tomorrow and everyday after that”.

But it’s fine, apparently, for the Bieber brand to be used to hook America’s youth on that very modern drug: debt. Yes, later this month a Bieber branded pre-pay cash card will hit the market in the US. And while it’s a pre-pay debit card rather than an actual credit card, and while we’re promised some Bieber-starring videos preaching financial responsibility as part of the marketing campaign, the card is being supplied by a company called BillMyParents.com, which doesn’t sound very much like a product designed to teach kids to live within their means.

Though with – according to CNN – a four dollar a month membership fee, $1.50 charge for every cash withdrawal, $3 penalty if you don’t use your card for three months and $7.95 cost if you lose the card (for a service most banks offer for free on children’s accounts), I suppose it will teach the kids about the dangers of letting yourself become too reliant on the shittier players in the financial services industry. And of taking financial advice from pot heads.



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