Juul has agreed to a settlement, announced last week by the Center for Environmental Health (CEH), which sets in place clear restrictions on marketing to teens. Under the new guidelines, Juul is prohibited from advertising on social media, a motion which the manufacturer had already voluntarily set in place over a year ago.
Additionally, Juul will not be able to advertise its products within 1,000ft of schools or playgrounds, will be prohibited from using models under the age of 28 in its advertisements, and cannot sponsor or advertise at sporting events or concerts that allow people under the age of 21.
Meanwhile last year, Juul Labs had announced that it would be spending $30 million to support state and federal initiatives to raise the minimum age to buy tobacco products to over 21, and towards research on how to prevent youth access to the products.
Additionally, the San Francisco-based company had said that instead of promoting its devices online, it would be advertising by using images of former smokers who have successfully switched from smoking regular cigarettes to vaping the Juul device.
“We believe we can both serve the 38 million smokers in the U.S. and work together to combat underage use — these are not mutually exclusive missions,” said the company’s former CEO Kevin Burns, at the time.
Monitoring online activity
Juul is banned from advertising its products within 1,000ft of schools or playgrounds
Juul Labs had also assigned a team of people with monitoring online activity and focus on reporting inappropriate content to Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for removal. The company had “partnered with several of these companies to proactively remove posts, pages, and unauthorized offers to sell product targeted at underage users.”
In the meantime, the CEH has said that this latest settlement is “a personal victory”. “Young people today think that smoking is gross, so big tobacco switched to a new product: e-cigarettes,” said CEH’s executive officer, Michael Green. “Juul uses sophisticated and targeted marketing to convince youth that e-cigarettes are safe. We just couldn’t sit back and allow big tobacco to hook a new generation of nicotine addicts.”
Measures set up by Juul to prevent teen vaping
Juul on the other hand, has recently announced that it is setting in place a new age-verification system at points of sale, aimed at keeping its products out of minors’ hands.
Additionally, Juul Labs have also come up with a new product that can help monitor users. Its newly launched smart e-cigarette is able to collect information regarding the user, even tracking when and where they vape. Additionally, the new device is able to utilize a facial recognition feature to keep it out of the hands of children.
Read Further: The Guardian
