Electronic cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs will pay over $438 million over the next six to 10 years to settle a two-year investigation by 34 states and territories into whether the company helped create an explosion in underage vaping by marketing its products to teenagers.
As part of the deal, Juul has agreed to refrain from marketing to youth, providing free samples, and depicting people under 35 years old in its marketing, and it will limit its social media advertising toward adult audiences.
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“JUUL’s cynically calculated advertising campaigns created a new generation of nicotine addicts,” Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said in a press release. “Through this settlement, we have secured hundreds of millions of dollars to help reduce nicotine use and forced Juul to accept a series of strict injunctive terms to end youth marketing and crack down on underage sales.”
The states conducting the investigation, including Connecticut, Texas, Oregon, and Puerto Rico, alleged that Juul appealed to underage teenagers with “launch parties, advertisements using young and trendy-looking models, social media posts and free samples.” The investigation also concluded that Juul misled consumers with its packaging about the nicotine levels of its vaping products.
Juul has agreed to pay a total of $438.5 million, with the amount increasing at 10 years up to $476.6 million. At least $16.2 million of the settlement money will be funneled to Connecticut, which plans to dedicate it to vaping prevention tactics and other mitigation efforts.
Juul, which first launched in 2015, is facing hundreds of other lawsuits by individuals that claim its marketing targets minors. The company has previously settled lawsuits in North Carolina, Louisiana, and Arizona.
Juul has declined in prevalence in the U.S. since it was forced to remove its flavored products from shelves in 2019. The Food and Drug Administration made moves earlier this summer to ban sales of all of Juul’s products in the U.S., though the company has since challenged it in court.
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E-cigarette use among underage teenagers has exploded in recent years. Over 2 million U.S. middle and high school students reported currently using e-cigarettes in 2021, with more than 8 in 10 students using flavored e-cigarettes, according to the CDC.
