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Tag: juul
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Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul Series – Full Summary and Review
Follow Along with Canada Vapes as we watch The Rise and Fall of Juul.
Episode 1: The Spark
Episode one of “The Rise and Fall of Juul” starts us off with introducing us to the founders of Juul and how their product came to be. James Monsees and Adam Bowen had one thing in common–their love of smoking. Not only was the vice a way to relax and de-stress, but also a unique way of socializing and making new friends. Aware of the harmful side effects of cigarettes, the duo wanted to replicate these feelings in a safer and easier way. Thus, Ploom was born.
The first e-cigarette the Stanford tech bros launched was a butane powered device that burned tobacco in a way that made it less harmful to inhale, more of a vapor than a smoke. Many flaws ensued with the Ploom, mainly how inconvenient it was to carry around a canister of butane for refilling purposes. Sales weren’t doing as well as the company expected, and the company decided to pivot their research and introduce a better product.
Pax by Ploom: The Tech Bros First Success
Pax by Ploom was a great success, but not in the ways Monsees and Bowen expected. The Pax was a battery powered unit that was designed to burn tobacco on the go. It was rechargeable, pocket friendly and could be used within seconds. After all of the experimenting and hard work the company had put into Ploom, they finally thought they’d created the optimal product to help smokers. The only problem? The Pax was only popular among marijuana users. Although Ploom was still getting sales and their product was well known, it still wasn’t satisfying the founders. Their product wasn’t reaching their target audience, and they were still determined to reach their original goal.
More Designing Innovation:
Getting back to the drawing board, more prototypes and research was conducted. Instead of taking time to enjoy the success of Pax, the group was determined to complete their big project. The engineers and designers got to work once again, looking to invent a way to smoke that was easy, satisfying and cool. Eventually in 2014, the almighty Juul was created. Testers couldn’t believe its power, and everyone at Ploom immediately knew they’d finally done it.This sleek little device–reminiscent of an Apple product– was going to change the world. With no buttons or set up of any kind required, Monsees and Bowen knew that the Juul was going to be the hallmark of their careers. The Juul was compact and small with highly concentrated nicotine pods that testers reported caused them to almost pass out upon first trying them. They covered all the basics with their initial flavours–Fruit, mint, tobacco and creme brulee. They had something for everyone.
While Juul founders and employees were riding on the high of their magnificent new invention, they had no idea what was in store for them just a few years down the line. Controversies, lawsuits and more were soon to ensue, and the magic of the Juul would soon come to an end.
Episode 2: First Impressions
While the general public were deciding their opinions on the Juul, headquarters were busy troubleshooting issues they had with the device. E-liquid spitting was a major complaint by testers and customers alike. Employees found that in a pack of 5 pods, almost 1 in 5 leaked. One employee even said he couldn’t eat creme brulee anymore due to getting the Brulee flavour spat into his mouth so often. About a month before launch, the team didn’t have a solution for their pod issues. So, by the wise words of James Monsees, “F*** it, ship it” was their only choice.
With Juul launched and made available to the public, advertisement was everywhere. It was impossible not to know what a Juul was, and even more impossible not to see your favourite influencer or celebrity using one. College kids were going wild over this new and cool way to smoke, and everyone who was anyone had one in their hand at every party. Juul had ads featured on billboards, magazines, television, social media and more. There was a certain glamour to the way Juul presented their product, and not everyone was on board with it.
Controversies first started to arise when the public started comparing Juul’s ads to old cigarette ads, including Newport, and how they sexualized and romanticized smoking. Despite their outreach on social media, the Juul wasn’t doing so well in the real world at this time. Smoke shops didn’t want to carry it, and they were difficult to find in stores. It seemed that Juul’s reputation hadn’t taken off yet, and people were still unsure about them.
Episode 3: Where’s my Juul? The Rise
So begins the Juul addiction epidemic as more and more teens and young adults find themselves unable to stop Juuling. At first, as many say, it was a fun weekend activity, something to do to look cool. But with many people actually unaware of the side effects and uneducated on nicotine addiction, Juulers were finding themselves in a sticky situation. Underage kids were also catching wind of the new trend, and although sales were booming, kids vaping was not looking good for the brand. On the other hand, folks who had actually quit smoking from the Juul were trying to make their voices heard. Former smokers knew what the Juul had done for them, and wanted to suppress the controversy with their stories.
In order to combat some of Juul’s controversies and keep their image professional and adult oriented, the company made some changes to their advertising. Eliminating bright colours and instead opting for blacks, whites and greys, their goal was to “represent the adult smoker”. Boring and prude, Juul hoped these changes could give them a fresh start.
In light of adults noticing teens becoming addicted to the Juul, parents across the nation were growing increasingly concerned. PAVE (Parents Against Vaping E-Cigarettes) was founded by 3 women whose children were victims of the Juul epidemic with the goal to make a change and raise awareness.
Meanwhile, Juul decided to partner with Altria, the company that manufactures Marlboro cigarettes. It was a huge and controversial decision for Juul to partner with big tobacco, especially since Juul’s main message was to eradicate cigarettes. Not everyone at the company was happy and in fact, most were downright angry. Employees were considering quitting and overall, the choice did not go over well. Many employees asked, “why?”, and there was only one answer: Money.
Episode 4: Juul Made Overnight Billionaires
What felt like overnight, Juul was suddenly a multi-million dollar company thanks to big tobacco. Employees were thrilled, reigning in their wealth. But the reputation of Juul had plummeted drastically. The very thing Juul wanted to kill off were now their business partners, and customers had mixed emotions. Despite Juul partnering with a cigarette brand, they were still encouraging making the switch from smoking to vaping through the Make the Switch campaign and advertising. Altria’s desperation to partner with Juul was due to the fact that vaping really was overtaking smoking, and big tobacco was losing more and more money everyday.
Addiction and Disease, Fall of Juul and vapes
Meanwhile, teen nicotine addiction was still having a massive impact on society. Parents were concerned, and the issue was only worsening. Juuls were accessible to teens and kids, and it seems like everyone who was anyone was hooked on the Juul. In The Rise and Fall of Juul, Ksenia Benes, a victim of teen vaping, tells her story of how she ended up in the ICU with respiratory failure after Juuling for long periods of time. Along with Ksenia, more and more kids and teens were showing up to the hospital with the same symptoms and all with one thing in common–Juuling. Deaths and serious illnesses were reported more and more frequently. There was a major panic across the USA.
EVALI–the official diagnosis given to these teens, a new disease no one had ever heard of. “E-cigarette or Vaping Product Use-Associated Lung Injury” was the sickness sweeping the nation, and doctors were up to their ears in diagnosis. Collapsed lungs, breathing difficulty and permanent lung damage were just some of the devastating side effects of EVALI.
Juul’s Rising Controversy
Protests rose, headlines were booming and sales were rapidly declining. Juul employees felt the terror, and realized something big was happening that they wouldn’t be able to bounce back from.
Suddenly, a breakthrough came through. Vitamin E acetate was the substance found in almost every EVALI case. Researchers discovered this was likely the main ingredient causing the widespread sicknesses. Illegal THC cartridges contained the vitamin, and many kids who used a Juul would also use these THC pens. Was Juul’s reputation saved once again? Although it was discovered that these vaping related illnesses were linked to THC cartridges and not Juul, the media didn’t back down. To the public’s eye, vaping was all the same, regardless of contents. Juul was still under scrutiny and suffering greatly.
Within just a few months, flavoured vaping was banned across multiple US state. The CDC refused to clear Juul’s name. With a new CEO, and Adam and James, the original founders, leaving the company. It was clear the end was near.
Juul is still kicking!
As of 2023, Juul miraculously remains on the market, despite the FDA doing their best to ban them. Juul survived their $3 billion in lawsuits. The future of Juul is undetermined, and for the time being, they remain only as a memory.
View all CV product reviews here
Overall, The Rise and Fall of Juul was an endearing and educational watch. Vapers and vape companies alike can take note and learn a lesson. It was truly interesting to see how the documentary played out. Very compelling to see the rise and fall of Juul in real time. Hearing from former employees, Juul users and influencers was eye-opening. It’s shocking to see the impact Juul had on society. Everyone knew the name, but now everyone knows the story. Juul will go down in history and truly will be remembered as the grandfather of vaping. This docu-series serves as a memorable story about 2 tech bros who just wanted to make a difference.
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Big Vape: New Netflix Documentary on Juul Tells a Controversial Story
“Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul” delves into the dramatic trajectory of the Juul vaping device, chronicling its meteoric rise and eventual downfall.
A 4 part docu-series is premiering on Netflix, on October 11. The docu-series will be depicting the drastic rise and fall of the infamous vaping device, the Juul.
It’s called “Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul”, and the title speaks for itself. Juul was a 38 billion dollar company, popular among teens and young adults in their 20s. Juul had the upper hand in the vaping world for years. With ads in Seventeen magazine, the Nick Jr. TV Channel and several other sites directed mainly to teens, they were impossible to miss.
However all of that changed drastically in 2018. An investigation by the FDA forced Juul to discontinue some flavours of their cartridges, due to the concern of attracting minors to vaping. In 2019, they reached an agreement with the Center for Environmental Health to ease up on their marketing. As a result, by 2020, Juul’s market share fell to 42%, and by 2022, they were pulled from shelves completely.
In just 4 years, Juul went from being the most ubiquitous vaping product, to becoming virtually non-existent.
How did Juul’s rise begin?
The series begins with the story of Stanford tech bros Adam Bowen and James Monsees. They created a start-up in Silicon Valley after forming a bond over their passion for the harmful impact of smoking. “Ploom” was born, a butane powered e-cigarette that the pair launched in 2010. After more testing and experimenting, a sleeker, more compact, and in particular, a better flavoured device was launched, beginning Juul’s ascent to the top of the vaping world in 2015.
Juul’s controversies began early on, with their brand seemingly targeting under age young people. They gave out thousands of free devices, had celebrities with young followings like Cara Delevigne and Miley Cyrus promote their campaigns, and amped up their advertising on every social media platform possible.
Big Vape tells the full story of Juul, with testaments from former employees, young users and more. We are looking forward to learning how Juul may have been the catalyst for the vaping concerns and public health crisis we see today.
Hopefully Netflix brings us a cautionary tale packed full of intensity, controversy and education. Above all, give us a glimpse into the brief yet pivotal life of the Juul!
We will follow up with a review after we’ve finished the series.
Jayna Taylor
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Juul suspending sales of fruity flavours over impending Trump ban
The most popular e-cigarette manufacture in North America, Juul has chosen to pull all of their fruity flavours off of the shelves in the United States.
This move is being done pro-actively in the Trump administration policy that is expected to remove flavored e-cigarettes from the market.
Trump States “we can’t have our youth be so affected” and “people are dying with vaping” suggesting that a flavour ban would reduce deaths due to vaping.
The administration for Donald Trump stated they would remove all flavour pods, including mint and menthol flavours, and leave just tobacco flavours on the market.
To be clear – the preliminary evidence regarding people dying and being sick from vaping has not shown nicotine e-cigarettes as the likely culprit, but rather THC infused vape pens that are unregulated in the United States, with the exception of a few states that have legalized marijuana. Banning fruit flavored vaping products will not protect against recent vaping related deaths and sicknesses, as there has been no evidence to support that vaping nicotine e-liquid is causing this epidemic, and a great deal of evidence to support the theory it is THC vape pods causing it. Even if there were evidence to support nicotine e-cigarettes as causing sickness, allowing tobacco flavours in the market would keep the dangers in play.
Vaping illness and deaths and increases in youth vaping are two entirely separate problems that seem to be being lumped together by our media, our policy makers, and our government.
Juul Spokesman Austin Finan stated that Juul will “continue to review our policies and practices in advance of the FDA’s flavour guidance and have not made any final decisions… We are refraining from lobbying the administration on its draft flavour guidance and will fully support and comply with the final policy when effective”
In 2018, Tobacco company Altria purchased a 35% stake in Juul, at a suggested 12.8 billion dollars. Over the past several months the Juul company has been under fire in the media for allegedly miss-representing their products, and targeting youth in their promotions.
From my perspective, banning flavours outside of tobacco flavors will have little impact on youth vaping. Teenagers drink beer, and smoke cigarettes, both which taste pretty terrible to most people. They seem to be missing the point that teenage vaping use is a way to rebel against their parents, gain individuality and freedom, and has been going on in different forms since as long as we know.
Product Bans and prohibitions most often increase challenges as under ground and illegal unregulated vaping products will show their faces on the black market. This lack regulation could increase the risk of dangerous chemicals being used in their production. Just look at the recent case involving THC pods making people sick that is still ongoing in the United States.
What can be done?
No one wants an increase in youth and teenage use of vaping products. What we need is better and more strict regulations and penalties for businesses selling vaping products to minors, as well as better education for our youth. We talk with our children about alcohol, prescription drugs, and other forms of dangerous activity. When we discuss vaping, its dangers, and what is is designed for – current smokers looking for an alternative – it will go a long way to reduce this problem. In my opinion, bans and prohibitions will have little net positive effect.
Howie