Juul, a popular American electronic cigarette company founded in 2015 by James Monsees and Adam Bowen, is being sued for allegedly targeting kids with ads on Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and other platforms. 

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey told cnet.com,“Juul knew it was selling to kids…They plastered the internet.”

According to Healey, “Juul decided against doing an ad campaign designed for an older audience and instead specially chose one that targeted young people…the information that we uncovered in our investigation demonstrates Juul’s intent; they didn’t accidentally create an advertising campaign with young and attractive people, that’s what they were going for all along.”

Juul’s response to the FDA on the youth-oriented marketing campaigns was that they would be using real customers who were using their Juul products to help them quit smoking instead of the young models, and the company shut down their social media accounts as of Nov. 2018. 

The battery-operated e-cigarettes have grown in popularity among the youth, as it is advertised as being a safer alternative to tobacco cigarettes. Juul’s have become a trend and an accessory among high schoolers and college students, one reason for the popularity is the fact that they are easy to carry around at all times.

The Juul company has denied intentionally marketing to youth and insisted its purpose of the Juul was to help adult smokers switch to a safer alternative. In 2018, cofounder James Monsees told The New York Times that selling Juuls to kids was “antithetical to the company’s mission.” At the time, a spokesperson told the newspaper that the original ad campaign in question was aimed at smokers in their twenties and thirties, but it was abandoned after five months in fall 2015. 

The lawsuit also states that the Juul company paid to place digital promotions across websites like coolmath.com and sites that target young girls such as dailydressupgames.com, according to The New York Times. The ads the Juul company used included young teens, and the lawsuit alleges that these ads helped spark a new generation of teens using nicotine. Juul’s pods are sold in different flavors, like mint and fruit, which are popular among adolescents. 

The popularity of Juul vaping pods among youth has helped the product account for 73 % of e-cigarette sales in the U.S., as of September 2018, Truth Initiative reported. The Juul company continues to expand, and it has launched its products in 21 other countries outside of the United States, including Canada, Russia, and in nations throughout Europe. The Juul company looks to expand as it has advertised for jobs in the Middle East and the Asia Pacific.