Mediaboss Marketing

I think it's great, and it's a lot of money, said Mary Burt, a regional health connector based in Gunnison, who works with school districts and six counties, which could definitely use it, to specifically target vape usage.

While glad to hear about the settlement, Burt had choice words for the company.

I think they're just like any of those Big Tobacco companies, they got caught, she said. They're trying to get away with sleazy business marketing practices to young children.

Burt is also a mother of a 20-year-old, who struggled with vaping in high school in Gunnison. He eventually quit. At his school, e-cigarette usage was commonplace among students.

They took the doors off the bathrooms to try to deal with the vaping problem, she said. That's not a very safe environment in my opinion.

She said a statewide survey has shown high percentages of high schoolers who say theyve tried vaping. Many want to quit but dont know where to turn. We're not giving them access to resources or doing any sort of outreach on it, (its) certainly a gap we could fill, Burt said.

In 2020, the state sued Juul over its marketing practices. An investigation found the company advertised directly to young people and misrepresented the health risks of its products, according to Weiser. Juul targeted cool kids in ads and social media campaigns. It deployed brand ambassadors to hand out free samples to young people at Colorado convenience stores. It hired social media influencers to promote the products with an eye to introducing e-cigarettes to young people.

Vaping took off around the country as a result and Juuling became a ubiquitous expression and habit for many young people, Weiser said.

Social media, sites like Instagram or YouTube, became a key venue for the message. Weiser said the company was, very aware of the virality of social media, aware of the norms of social media. Juul identified influences that young people would pay attention to and set up what I'll call negative social norms. Juul or Juuling is cool. That was the norm.

Under the agreement, Juul will be prohibited from using those marketing tactics in the future.

Five other states and the District of Columbia are part of the $462 million settlement. When the state filed the lawsuit, Colorado was the top state in the nation per capita for teen vaping. One in six Colorado teens reported they had vaped in the past month, according to state data from 2021, the most recent available.

In a statement, a company spokesman Austin Finan said Juul was nearing a total resolution of the companys historical legal challenges and securing certainty for our future.

He noted the company has now settled with 47 states and territories, providing over $1 billion to participating states, plus a global resolution of the U.S. private litigation.

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Colorado to get $32 million settlement from Juul, the vaping ... - Colorado Public Radio