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Tag: juul marketing

  • Juul Suspends Advertising, CEO Steps Down

    Juul Suspends Advertising, CEO Steps Down

    Juul’s new CEO says the company is at a crossroads. 

    The vaping company Juul Labs will suspend all advertising in the United States, accept a ban on flavored e-cigarette products and make other major changes amid public outcry and health concerns about the use of electronic cigarettes, particularly among teens. 

    It’s Over For Flavored Vaping Products

    Juul released a statement on Wednesday (Sept. 25) saying that it will not fight a federal ban on flavored vaping products and that it will stop advertising its products immediately. In addition, CEO Kevin Burns is stepping down and will be replaced by KC Crosthwaite, former chief growth officer at Altria Group Inc.

    Altria, which owns Philip Morris USA, is one of the biggest tobacco companies in the nation. Altria has a 35% stake in Juul, which it bought for $12.8 billion last December. 

    In his first statement as CEO, Crosthwaite said that Juul is at a crossroads. 

    “I have long believed in a future where adult smokers overwhelmingly choose alternative products like JUUL. That has been this company’s mission since it was founded, and it has taken great strides in that direction,” he said. “Unfortunately, today that future is at risk due to unacceptable levels of youth usage and eroding public confidence in our industry. Against that backdrop, we must strive to work with regulators, policymakers and other stakeholders, and earn the trust of the societies in which we operate. That includes inviting an open dialogue, listening to others and being responsive to their concerns.”

    No More Ads

    Effective immediately, the company will be “suspending all broadcast, print and digital product advertising in the U.S.” and “Refraining from lobbying the Administration on its draft guidance and committing to fully support and comply with the final policy when effective” the statement said.

    In the statement, the company said that it has already taken steps to combat underage use of its products. 

    “JUUL Labs has strongly advocated for Tobacco 21 (T21) laws, stopped the sale of non-tobacco and non-menthol-based flavored JUULpods to all of its traditional retail store partners, enhanced its online age verification, discontinued its U.S.-based Facebook and Instagram accounts and works to remove inappropriate social media content generated by others on those platforms,” the statement said. “The company also intensified efforts to combat illegal and potentially dangerous counterfeit and compatible products. Most recently, JUUL Labs started deploying technology at retail stores that automatically restricts the sale of JUUL products until a government-issued ID is electronically scanned to verify age and ID validity, exceeding the standards in place for other tobacco products and alcohol.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Man Sues Juul, Claims Vaping 2 Pods A Day Caused Massive Stroke

    Man Sues Juul, Claims Vaping 2 Pods A Day Caused Massive Stroke

    The suit also alleged that the man had become addicted in part due to Juul’s marketing strategy.

    The e-cigarette company Juul has been sued by a Connecticut man who claimed that his addiction to their products caused him to experience a debilitating stroke.

    Maxwell Berger, 22, said that he became addicted to Juul products while in high school, and within two years’ time, was using two cartridges a day.

    In 2017, Berger claimed that he had a massive stroke that left him with left side paralysis, speech impairment and a 50% loss of vision in both eyes.

    The suit also alleged that Berger had become addicted in part due to Juul’s marketing strategy, which targeted young people. In a statement to Forbes, a spokesperson for Juul said that the lawsuit was “without merit.”

    The suit was filed in San Franscisco County Superior Court by Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, a law firm that has been involved in numerous cases involving corporations and suits against tobacco companies.

    As Forbes noted, the suit alleged that Juul was responsible for fraudulent concealment and intentional misrepresentation of the products and their risks, as well as negligence in promoting and selling them to people under the age of 26.

    The Allegations

    In the suit, Berger claimed that he developed a dependency on Juul products in the summer of 2015 after his last year of high school. Within two years’ time, he was vaping every 10 minutes, interrupting family meals to use his device and ultimately consuming two cartridges, or pods, per day.

    Berger claimed that in July 2017, his Juul consumption caused him to have a massive hemorrhagic stroke that required three brain surgeries and more than 100 days in the hospital.

    As Forbes noted, the suit alleged that Berger was left with “catastrophic and permanent injuries,” including paralysis, impaired speech and loss of vision in both eyes.

    Juul spokesperson Ted Kwong told Forbes in a statement, “We do not want non-nicotine users, especially youth, to use our product. To this end, we have launched an aggressive action plan to combat underage use, as it is antithetical to our mission. To the extent these cases allege otherwise, they are without merit and we will defend our mission throughout this process.”

    To deter interest in their product by young people, Juul has shuttered its social media accounts in the United States and eliminated its fruit-flavored products while also supporting initiatives that would increase the minimum smoking age to 21.

    For critics, such efforts have come too late. They point to Juul’s early advertising campaign, which featured young models, bright colors and meme-like text—elements that could appeal to younger consumers.

    Juul co-founder Adam Bowen later said that these early ads were “inappropriate,” but also suggested that they had “no impact on sales.”

    View the original article at thefix.com