Juul Targets Chronic Smokers Over Teens

 

 

 

e-cigarette manufacturer Juul has found a new audience — and it’s not teenagers.

 

“I made the switch,” says Carolyn, age 54, in one of the brand’s latest campaigns targeting a decidedly older audience.  A 30-year smoker, Carolyn laments that before, “even in my own home, I had my own designated space to smoke. If I think about it, it was really like I was punishing myself.”

 

In the ad, we never actually see Carolyn hold a cigarette or device, but we do see her sitting outside on the patio on a chilly fall day, the de facto Siberia most smokers are relegated to [watch the ad in the link at the end of this post.]

 

A frame from Juul’s recent advertising campaign, “Make the Switch.” In it, a 30-year smoker explains why she changed to e-cigarettes. Watch the video at the end of this post.

The ad is striking on multiple fronts: for one, it’s hard to imagine someone in their 50’s who has most certainly learned about the dangers of smoking and has probably tried countless times to stop, to suddenly decide to “make the switch” and continue a habit of addiction.

 

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Juul’s new campaign is not just audacious, it speaks to the opportunism which has always existed in the tobacco industry.

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But this is the allure of e-cigarettes: it’s not really smoking because there is no tar. Just nicotine.

 

But that’s hardly true: many e-cigs also contain formaldehyde, and nicotine is known to cause developmental problems in the brains of young people.

 

Meanwhile in Washington, tobacco lobbyists routinely campaign to get the FDA to ease up on their pressure to prohibit or ban the sales of tobacco products. That campaign has only gotten more heated with e-cigarettes.

 

 

Juul has come under fire for being less than subtle in how they seemingly target teens. Unlike ordinary cigarettes, vaping carries less of a stigma and has a high-tech appeal with the design of its devices.

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Vaping among high school teens rose 78-percent, and 48-percent among middle school students. Across the board, 3.6million youths reported that they had used e-cigarettes. *

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With so much scrutiny, e-cigarette companies need to expand their target audience, even though they continue to deny that teenagers are their target. Which is why Juul’s new campaign is not just audacious, it speaks to the opportunism which has always existed in the tobacco industry.

 

Wait – did you think that e-cigarette companies are humble start-ups, not Big Tobacco ?

 

In December 2018, Altria, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes and the nation’s largest tobacco company, bought a 35-percent state in Juul, the number one e-cigarette manufacturer in the United States.  The San Francisco start-up’s valuation soared to $38billion.

 

 

Blu and Vuse were the first on the  e-cig scene in the mid 2000’s, but are now laggin behind Juul.

RJ Reynolds was one of the first on the market with their e-cig called Vuse. As of August 2018, Vuse controls only 9.6 percent of the American e-cigarette market compared to Juul’s 72.1 percent market share, according to Nielsen data.

 

Like Big Tobacco, these companies know how to spin the facts and promote a positive view of smoking.

 

But Juul’s mission statement asserts that they are “improving the lives of the world’s one billion adult smokers by eliminating cigarettes. We envision a world where fewer people use cigarettes and where people who smoke cigarettes have the tools to reduce or eliminate their consumption, should they so desire.”

 

“Should they so desire.” These words underscore the myth that we are the ones in control — not the vice itself.

 

Given that nicotine is addictive, it is highly unlikely that Juul will help anyone stop vaping, and furthermore, the company completely ignores the fact that their product is immensely appealing to young people.

 

To state that they are targeting “adults” and existing smokers is a direct denial that, every day, they are in fact enlisting new smokers with their advertising and placement in convenience stores.

 

Much like cigarette companies have done for more than a century.

*2018 National Tobacco Survey

>> Watch Juul’s “Make the Switch.” Note this video is age-restricted, so not all computers may be able to show it.

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