Juul just wants you to know, they are sorry

July 19, 2019

at least that's what Kevin Burns, CEO of Juul Labs, wants the parents who's kids got caught Juuling up their schools to believe.  Juul is currently the bestselling e-cigarette brand in the United States and is front and center of federal regulators crosshairs for what they’re hyperbolically calling the teen vaping “epidemic” ⁠that just keeps on puffing up in the news cycles as of late.

Juul only started into the eLiquid and vape market in 2015 but they have quickly come to take over the market share of the e-cigarette industry with roughly 40% of users, becoming so noticeable that big tobacco giant Altria, invested $12.8 billion for a 35% stake in the San Francisco-based start-up.  In response San Francisco then hilariously banned vaping. 

CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla interviewed Burns while touring one of Juul’s manufacturing facilities in Wisconsin and asked him what he would say to a parent with a child who was addicted to Juul. “First of all, I’d tell them that I’m sorry that their child’s using the product,” said Burns, continuing. “It’s not intended for them. I hope there was nothing that we did that made it appealing to them. As a parent of a 16-year-old, I’m sorry for them, and I have empathy for them, in terms of what the challenges they’re going through.”

In short; he's sorry.  Soooo sorry that the company has tried to combat youth use by shutting down its social media accounts, because clearly it's the social media that got them on the Juul seeing as today's kids are so phone addicted it's easier to shift the focus to something nearly benign, like vaping, than it is to blame the phones that adults also use. So far, that hasn’t of course worked or changed public perception in any way. 

Understandably, parents are pissed.  They don't want to take any responsibility for their teenagers because they already tried yelling at them and making cringeworthy facebook posts attempting to publicly shame their children into voluntarily giving up their Juuls to the government.  The parents don't realize that vaping is better than smoking, which is what their kids would be doing if they weren't hitting that Juul bruh. 

Let's take another choice quote from that interview with Kevin in relation to health benefits of vaping over smoking but then twist it for comedic effect; “Frankly, we don’t know the impact of vaping today,” Burns, the Juul CEO, said. “We have not done the long-term, longitudinal, clinical testing that we need to do.” He said, laughing off camera and all the way to the bank as clearly the impact of vaping is incredibly lucrative for the fresh faced CEO.

Fight off the hysteria and get yourself some real education on the impacts of vaping vs smoking.  We know it's 95% healthier, and we know it's probably the safest way to consume nicotine. Regulators in the U.K. know this as they are actively encouraging smokers to give up their cigarettes in favor of e-cigarettes, while on this side of the pond we're still arguing over insane and inane political nonsense all while surfing high on the wave of vape hysteria. 

What do you think about Kevin Burn's public apology? How can Juul save face while still making bank? Will vaping ever get to eat it's lunch or will it be stuck eating it's hat? Does that analogy even make sense? 

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