One of the scariest addiction trends to emerge in recent years (other than the deadly opioid crisis, of course) concerns the act of vaping and the young people it inflicts. A considerably large portion of those having health crises because of this habit happen to fall into the teenage sect. And according to a new article from The Guardian website, that is no accident. They are accusing corporate giant Juul Labs of having an active role in targeting America’s youth.
The Guardian piece ties the theory back to an actual lawsuit that has been put forth by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Their legal action calls out Juul for specifically marketing their vaping products to children and teens. The company, of course, denies this, but certain evidence is already starting to come to light.
The history of these marketing campaigns dates back to 2015 and an intentional push to make vaping look “cool” and “chic.” The lawsuit contends that Juul purposely hired young-looking models and photographed them in sexually provocative poses. Worse yet, those images were then allegedly placed into digital advertisements on sites like Cartoon Network, Seventeen and Nickelodeon. Now, as we all know, those are brands primarily accessed by people 18 and younger.
Juul then supposedly put these ads on websites that were designed to help high school students with their homework. They also are accused of hiring youth-based influencers to promote their products, such as Miley Cyrus and Luka Sabbat.
Massachusetts attorney general, Maura Healey, found these tactics particularly offensive and was not shy in her criticisms of Juul.
“You’re doing your math homework and up pops an ad for Juul,” she said sternly at a news conference this month. “The bottom line is, [Juul] figured out how to deliver nicotine more intensely, more rapidly, more deceptively to our young people than any company has ever done in history.”
Juul’s social media activity is also being called into question. They happen to be very active on all of the major networks and recently released info revealed that the overwhelming majority of their Twitter followers, for example, are between the ages of 13 and 20.
Now we’ve covered before just how concerning a habit like vaping can be, especially when it comes to young people and developing lungs. There is no doubt that it is an addictive practice and one that can easily cause permanent damage to a youth. Our strong advice is to check in with any loved ones who are within teenage range and make sure they are not being impacted by this dangerous habit.
