Critiquing the marketing techniques of Juul
It’s hard to say if Juul Labs Inc.’s advertising techniques have been a stroke of marketing genius or an unethical ploy to bring a Big Tobacco-like substitute back by introducing an alternative addictive substance it to a new market.
In all honesty, it’s both. But right now the brand is in trouble.
Juul Labs Inc. is under fire for marketing their e-cigarettes as “safer than” traditional cigarettes because the Juul device does not comply with regulations to prove that’s true. Unfortunately, people believed them and bought the product.
The company is also receiving criticism for marketing the vaping device to teens; marketing ads which can easily be seen by searching Google for the phrase “Juul ad.” A majority of the images that come up are of “casually dressed 20-year-old models being cool, smiling, joyously jumping, and kissing while vaping their Juul,” said a recently published study from Stanford.
This study further noted that, during the launch of Juul, most of their promotional events were geared towards youths, and that the events had “a definite youthful and rock music theme.” Pictures from these events show a youthful audience dancing, laughing, and sampling Juuls and pod flavors, “in poses reminiscent of teen behavior.”
The Juul also gained popularity via consumer marketing on social media. In its initial wave of popularity, Juul memes among youths were popular, often depicting a reaction to when one finds their pod empty or their Juul dead.
Additionally, Juuls were posted on apps like VSCO and Instagram that are widely used by youths. Many celebrity influencers have also been photographed using a Juul.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), tobacco use among teens had been at a historic low until 2015 when the Juul device was introduced. Consequently, the Juul and other e-cigarettes started gaining popularity.
Critics are calling Juul Labs Inc. out for marketing heavily to teenagers, classifying their ads and flavors as the biggest culprits.
Originally, there were five Juul flavors: mango, mint, creme brulee, Virginia tobacco, cucumber, and fruit medley. Off-brand companies also jumped in on the Juul pod craze and began manufacturing flavors like watermelon, strawberry and cotton candy.
Is anyone surprised that thse Big Tobacco substitutes targeted youths in order to become relevant again? Because I’m not.
Industries like Big Tobacco and Big Pharma moved past the proverbial “grey area” long ago, as they clearly have no qualms about immoral marketing and ethics. The vape and e-cig industry is no different.
Objectively, Juul Labs Inc.’s marketing campaign was genius: tobacco sales were at an all-time low among teens, so they focused on bringing it back to that market. They used sweet flavors and targeted advertisements to draw teens in with the promise of a “nicotine buzz” that was “safer than cigarettes.”
And now they’ve got a huge population of the generation hooked; raking in cash from the previously fallen Big Tobacco at unprecedented rates. It’s impossible to even walk across St. Joe’s campus without seeing at least one person using a Juul or a vape. In fact, I’ve met several people who have begun “casually smoking” cigarettes after they got hooked on using a Juul.
Recently, President Donald Trump announced he was planning to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes in the U.S. The announcement came after the sixth recorded death that was possibly linked to vaping. (Interesting how they’ll ban vapes after six vape-related deaths and not ban assault rifles after thousands of murders. But that’s for another article).
Moreover, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan placed an emergency ban on all flavored e-cigarettes in the state of Michigan, and recently the states of New York and New Jersey raised the tobacco/e-cig purchasing age to 21.
It’s hard to tell if these anti-vape legislative efforts will actually work, since Juul Labs Inc. did such a great job at saturating the teenage market so quickly. However, it can be said that Juul Labs Inc.’s marketing team did their job exceedingly well.
Unfortunately, too well. It’s not the anti-vape campaigns we need. What we need are the companies that sell products like these to stop valuing their profit margins over the health of their consumers. But this is America, so we’ll see how that goes.
