In addition to its youth-oriented marketing launch, in which JUUL spent more than $1 million to market the product on the internet, JUUL programs targeted children as young as those in third grade by funding summer camps, visiting schools and paying community and church groups to distribute their materials, according to documents and testimony from congressional hearings about JUUL’s role in the youth e-cigarette epidemic.
JUUL has worked to block and prevent FDA regulations, investing more than $1 million in lobbying efforts in the second quarter of 2019 alone. It also invested more than $4 million to try to beat a San Francisco ballot initiative to stop sales of e-cigarettes in the city.
Meanwhile, JUUL has claimed that it is targeting adult cigarette-users who want to stop smoking, but it has failed to subject its products to the level of independent, clinical investigation needed to substantiate any claims of effective cessation, nor has the company applied to the FDA to be approved as a product to help smokers quit.
JUUL, which is part-owned by tobacco giant Altria, is officially Big Tobacco, an industry with an insidious history of targeting kids with addictive products.
Young people can join the thousands of other teens taking part in the National Day of Action by:
Signing a pledge to tell JUUL to take responsibility for their actions.
Sharing their truth on social media and telling everyone why they should #DITCHJUUL for good.
For more information on JUUL and the e-cigarette epidemic, read more of our research and analysis.