Juul Is Paying $40 Million to Rebuild Its Reputation. Will It Work?

Juul Labs reached a $40 million settlement with North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein this week, agreeing to limit its sales and marketing practices to quell underage use of its potent e-cigarettes. The settlement is also part of an “ongoing effort to reset our company and its relationship with our stakeholders” and “earn trust through action,” as a Juul spokesperson put it in a statement. In other words: Juul is trying to shed its reputation as the company that fueled a youth vaping epidemic, and it’s willing to pay $40 million to do it. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] But is it too late? Juul “developed a brand identity and style that is durable,” says Dr. Robert Jackler, a tobacco-marketing researcher at Stanford University who was set to be an expert witness for the state in the North Carolina trial before the settlement. “No matter what Juul has done—and it’s done many things in the face of withering regulatory attention and public scrutiny,” he says, “it is too tarnished of a brand” to come back from that. Juul was conceived as a cigarette alternative for adult smokers. E-cigarettes deliver nicotine but are generally considered less dangerous than traditional cigarettes, making them a potentially useful tool for adults trying to stop smoking. But by the time Juul took off, around 2017, it was popular with another demographic: teenagers. By 2019, 27.5% of U.S. high school stu...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news