Juul halts youth ads as part of settlement
Juul has agreed to restrict advertising to youth as part of a settlement to resolve legal complaints brought by the Center for Environmental Health, an Oakland nonprofit that works to protect public health by testing consumer products for potentially harmful materials.
As part of the settlement, which was finalized last week, Juul has agreed to limit its advertising in media where at least 85% of the audience is at least 21 years old, the legal age to buy tobacco products, including ecigarettes, in California; not advertise on social media; not sponsor or advertise at sports events or concerts unless they are restricted to people over 21; not permit Juul employees to go to schools or youthoriented events in their professional capacity; and not advertise within 1,000 feet of schools or playgrounds — except for inside retail stores that do not have ads on the exterior of the store.
Juul will also pay the Center for Environmental Health $5.5 million, which will go toward antivaping advertising and education campaigns, said Mark Todzo, an attorney for the organization.
The settlement is enforceable in California only for three years. It stems from a 2015 law
suit the center filed against Juul’s predecessor company Pax Labs, accusing it of violating California’s Proposition 65 by not disclosing that its products may contain cancercausing chemicals. A consent judgment resolved that matter in 2016, but attorneys for the center later alleged that Juul violated the terms of the judgment by making health and safety claims about its products. The settlement reached last week is the result of negotiations between Juul and the center to resolve that issue, Todzo said.
It is believed to be the first legal settlement Juul has reached that restricts specific youth marketing activities. Juul did not concede any wrongdoing or admit liability. Some of the agreedupon terms are things that Juul has already done, such halting social media advertising. Others, such as the prohibition on advertising within 1,000 feet of schools, are already state law.
Juul spokesman Ted Kwong said the settlement affirms voluntary practices the company has in place.
“We have never marketed to youth and do not want any nonnicotine users to try our products,” Kwong said in a written statement. “Our products exist solely to help adult smokers find an alternative to combustible cigarettes.”
Juul has drawn ire from politicians, public health officials and parents who blame the San Francisco company, which has about 70% market share in the U.S., for contributing to the rapid rise in teen vaping. Amid the scrutiny, Juul shut down its social media accounts in 2018 and this year began a $100 million effort to install digital ageverification cash register systems at retail stores to prevent minors from buying Juul products.
The company’s recent advertising campaigns focus on adult smokers touting the benefits of using Juul to switch from cigarettes to vaping. But Stanford researchers who analyzed years of Juul marketing and promotional activities found that the company’s early advertising imagery was youthoriented. And Juul’s youth marketing practices are now the focus of investigations by several state attorneys general, a Senate committee and the Food and Drug Administration.
The Center for Environmental Health has brought similar Prop. 65 complaints against more than a dozen other vaping companies over the past few years. Those have been resolved; in many cases, the vaping companies agreed to add warning labels and to not to advertise to minors.
Experts say some of the restrictions on youth marketing Juul agreed to in this settlement are similar to the restrictions in the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, a 1998 deal reached between the tobacco industry and dozens of state attorneys general who sued the companies to recover the cost of treating consumers sickened by cigarettes. The 1998 agreement prohibited tobacco companies from advertising to youth and from using cartoon characters in ads.