NJ To Get $33M In Juul Settlement Targeting Youth Marketing, Sales

NEW JERSEY - The Garden State is slated to receive millions of dollars from e-cigarette maker Juul Labs following a two-year multistate investigation into the company's marketing practices targeting young people, according to state officials.

Juul is set to pay $438.5 million to over two dozen states as part of a settlement regarding Juul’s aggressive marketing to underage users, which included launch parties, advertisements using young models, social media posts, and free samples, as well as misleading packaging that implied products contained lower concentrations of nicotine than they actually had, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said in a Tuesday statement. New Jersey is set to get $33.6 million from the settlement, Platkin said.

“For years the tobacco industry has preyed on young people to get them addicted to nicotine early and keep them hooked for the rest of their lives,” said Attorney General Platkin. “This settlement will protect youth from the hazards of vaping and smoking and ensure that JUUL can no longer put profits over public health by using unlawful sales practices to fuel a youth vaping crisis.”

The investigation also found that Juul manipulated the chemical makeup of its product to make the vapor less harsh on the throats of inexperienced users, as well as knowingly relied on age verification techniques that it knew were ineffective to keep its younger customers, Platkin said. The e-cigarette company also marketed its products as technology-forward with sleek designs that could be easily hidden and sold its product in flavors known to be attractive to underage users, Platkin added.

The company also claimed that its product was a smoking-cessation device without proper FDA approval to make such claims, the attorney general said.

As part of the multistate settlement, Juul has agreed to stop:

• Youth marketing
• Funding education programs
• Depicting persons under age 35 in any marketing
• Use of cartoons
• Paid product placement
• Sale of brand name merchandise
• Sale of flavors not approved by FDA
• Allowing access to websites without age verification on landing page
• Representations about nicotine not approved by FDA
• Misleading representations about nicotine content
• Sponsorships/naming rights
• Advertising in outlets unless 85 percent audience is adult
• Advertising on billboards near schools or playgrounds
• Public transportation advertising
• Social media advertising (other than testimonials by individuals over the age of 35, with no health claims)
• Use of paid influencers
• Direct-to-consumer ads unless age-verified
• Free samples

New restrictions also affect Juul sales and distribution, including where the product may be displayed/accessed in stores, online sales limits, retail sales limits, age verification on all sales and a retail compliance check protocol, Platkin said.

The total $438.5 million is set to be paid over a period of six to ten years, with the settlement funds increasing the longer the company takes to make the payments, the attorney general said.

“As the rate of teen smoking went down, JUUL was finding new ways to market nicotine to young people,” said Cari Fais, New Jersey's Acting Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs, in a statement. “This monumental settlement shows the e-cigarette industry that we will not tolerate deceptive marketing to get teens addicted.”