The Juul Epidemic
1/6/19
In the new generation a popular thing is using a juul. Juul's are electronic cigarettes that contain nicotine and are essentially the same as cigarettes. The market for juul's is supposed to be for adults but teens are easily able to access juul’s and that's what they have been doing.
Juul's have become a widely used vaping tools and are shown off over social media quite often. Especially on platforms such as VSCO, where you can share photos. Juul's show up in pictures on VSCO almost all the time. But I rarely see people actually smoking with them in pictures or videos. It's just photos of the juul itself. Most often it is shown in an aesthetic way, such as the photo on the right. I don't understand the interest in these e-cigarettes because they're just as bad for you as an actually cigarette but the internet seems to be obsessed with them. I have an idea that since they're so widely shown off in a cool way many teens (especially girls) are interested in them because by buying one it'd supposedly make you fit in or easily allow you to follow the trend. But it's not only social medias fault that juul's are so popular, it also has to do with the advertising.
The advertising for juul's during its early campaign seemed as if it was targeting teens because of their ads using younger looking actors and music and clothing that's more teen oriented. This caused a lot of controversy, considering you have to be 21 or older to purchase a juul. But another way the company promoted their product was through their fruit flavored pods. Which was a larger market for teen consumption. So much so that the FDA banned the sale of fruit flavored juul pods in stores. The popularity of the juul among the young teens of our generation is potentially very harmful and should be contained but I understand how hard it would be to keep the juul only available to the people within its age restrictions. So in order to see the repercussions of this product we have to wait and see what the future brings for juul users.
Information Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2018/11/16/the-disturbing-focus-of-juuls-early-marketing-campaigns/#6ed3ab8214f9
In the new generation a popular thing is using a juul. Juul's are electronic cigarettes that contain nicotine and are essentially the same as cigarettes. The market for juul's is supposed to be for adults but teens are easily able to access juul’s and that's what they have been doing.
Juul's have become a widely used vaping tools and are shown off over social media quite often. Especially on platforms such as VSCO, where you can share photos. Juul's show up in pictures on VSCO almost all the time. But I rarely see people actually smoking with them in pictures or videos. It's just photos of the juul itself. Most often it is shown in an aesthetic way, such as the photo on the right. I don't understand the interest in these e-cigarettes because they're just as bad for you as an actually cigarette but the internet seems to be obsessed with them. I have an idea that since they're so widely shown off in a cool way many teens (especially girls) are interested in them because by buying one it'd supposedly make you fit in or easily allow you to follow the trend. But it's not only social medias fault that juul's are so popular, it also has to do with the advertising.
The advertising for juul's during its early campaign seemed as if it was targeting teens because of their ads using younger looking actors and music and clothing that's more teen oriented. This caused a lot of controversy, considering you have to be 21 or older to purchase a juul. But another way the company promoted their product was through their fruit flavored pods. Which was a larger market for teen consumption. So much so that the FDA banned the sale of fruit flavored juul pods in stores. The popularity of the juul among the young teens of our generation is potentially very harmful and should be contained but I understand how hard it would be to keep the juul only available to the people within its age restrictions. So in order to see the repercussions of this product we have to wait and see what the future brings for juul users.
Information Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2018/11/16/the-disturbing-focus-of-juuls-early-marketing-campaigns/#6ed3ab8214f9
I have noticed the rise in Juul popularity as well. I think it has to do, like you said, with the spread of videos and pictures over the internet. People post videos of them doing "tricks" with the tools which gain thousands of views. It isn't uncommon for people to want to fit in amongst their peers in today's day and age and Juul has become the vehicle to do so. I have also noticed that in response to these Juul ads, anti- drug companies have been pushing ads warning teens and families against the Juul pods and their luring fruit flavors. I agree with you in that it is difficult for the distributing companies to contain their consumers and I don't think there is much more anyone can do to restrict the consumption. At the end of the day, there will most likely always be ways for people under age to get these kinds of things.
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