By CultureBanx Team
- Juul has brought in $1.27B in global revenues during the first half of this year
- In 2018, 3.2% of African American high school students smoked
The teen vaping “epidemic” spurred by Juul, maker of the biggest-selling vaping device, is under heavy scrutiny by the federal government. There’s been a re-emergence of smoking, that is re-normalizing a deadly habit to millions of teens, and as helped Juul bring in $1.27 billion in global revenues during the first half of this year. Is limiting access to flavored e-cigarettes and raising the age limit to buy their products, enough to stop kids from getting hooked on nicotine?
Why This Matters: Juul, with its thumb-drive-shaped vaporizers has positioned itself as a tool to help smokers quit by curtailing tobacco use. While they may help some adults quit, teens are at risk of becoming addicted to nicotine. Tobacco Free Kids reported that in 2018, 3.2% of African American high school students smoked, compared to 9.9% of Whites and 7.2% of Hispanics. According to a U.S. survey last year, about a quarter of high-school seniors reported vaping in the past 30 days.
The company claims it wants to be a part of the solution to keeps kids from vaping, by offering more than $100 million in incentives to retailers to install a new electronic age-verification system
Addiction to nicotine is one thing, being addicted to making money is much harder to quit. Juul’s mint pods, which people claim tastes like candy cane or Altoids, brought in annual sales of $2.36 billion alone, according to Nielsen data. Mango, had previously been Juul’s biggest seller with yearly revenues of $887 million. FDA data shows that 68% of high-school aged e-cig users prefer these flavored pods.
The company claims it wants to be a part of the solution to keeps kids from vaping, by offering more than $100 million in incentives to retailers to install a new electronic age-verification system. There are some additional things the company has tried to shake off. Juul closed down much of its social-media presence and stopped selling all but its mint, menthol and tobacco pods in retail stores. Menthol pods that have a flavor similar to cough syrup which attract minority teens, are typically easier to smoke and harder to quit, according to the National African-American Tobacco Prevention Network.
Situational Awareness: Just like tobacco companies, e-cig creators like JUUL have been known to target minorities, according to the National Health Interview Survey. Ad measurement company iSpot found that Juul has spent more than $29 million on more than 8,700 tv spots in the U.S. since January. Due to the rise of vaping at least 450 people across the country have fallen ill with mystery lung issues and six deaths have been reported, according to the CDC.
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