|
In a first-of-its-kind deal, e-cigarette company Juul agreed to pay $40 million
to North Carolina yesterday to settle allegations that its marketing
efforts targeted teens. As part of the agreement, it will abandon any
marketing content that appeals to young people and only sell its
products behind-the-counter in the state.
Big picture: From startup rockstar to regulators' punching bag, Juul has been on a roller coaster ride these past few years.
The boom...
E-cigarette
use among teens shot up more than 70% after Juul's launch in 2015, and
by 2019, more than a quarter of American teens tried vaping. Juul’s
slick, flash-drive-like devices were so widely used in between chemistry
and history class that they even became a verb.
When Altria,
the tobacco giant that owns Marlboro, bought a 35% stake in Juul in
2018, Juul was valued at $38 billion. To put that number in context,
Juul was worth more than Target, Lyft, and Airbnb.
The bust...
The same year, the FDA called teen vaping an “epidemic”
and started to crack down on Juul and other e-cig companies. Although
Juul insisted that its products were intended for adults, its marketing
strategies said otherwise...
- Juul released fruit-flavored pods that went viral among teens (it's pulled most flavors since).
- It recruited influencers with huge teen followings on social media to advertise the brand.
- It plastered ads on homework solutions websites, so students solving for "x" would “accidentally” click on them.
Facing suffocating regulatory challenges around its advertising strategy, Juul cut its valuation to about $10 billion in October 2020.
Looking ahead...as of last summer, Juul was facing 758 lawsuits
across the US. It’s also waiting for a ruling from the FDA about
whether its products can remain on the market. That verdict is expected
by September.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment