The JUUL

Introduction

You either use it habitually, have used it in the past, or have heard about it in the news. Similar to Google, Uber, and Photoshop, the brand name itself has become a verb. The JUUL, the world’s most popular and sleekest e-cigarette, is used by millions today. Created in 2015 by two Stanford Product Designers, Adam Bowen and James Monsees, the JUUL offers a (supposedly) healthier alternative to regular cigarette users. The idea was brainstormed over the numerous smoke breaks the students took outside during their lab periods. They reached the conclusion that they hated their dependency on cigarettes, a product proven to shorten life, and realized the world needed a healthier alternative.

The JUUL Compared to Other E-Cigarettes

Bowen and Monsees designed a sleek 3-inch e-cigarette that has the appearance of a flash drive so it can easily be concealed, and it fits in just about any pocket. The first component of the JUUL is the body, which is the power source for the product. The body makes up about 85% of the height and contains a magnetic charging port on the bottom, making for an easy charge. Even the charging aspect of the JUUL was revolutionary compared to the other e-cigarette counterparts. Other e-cigarettes require unique charging adapters, screw-on chargers, and often use a cable or wire. The JUUL requires a USB adapter and is about ¾ inches by ¾ inches. Before people had to find an outlet to charge their e-cigarettes, now they need nothing more than a computer with battery. The last part of the body worth mentioning is the light in the center. The light can communicate with the user in multiple ways. First, it can display battery life through the colors green, yellow, red, and blinking red (green is closest to 100% and blinking red means it is about to die). Second, it can tell the user if their hit is working correctly. Sometimes it is unclear to the user if the nicotine syrup is being ignited and working properly or if they can only taste the air and drops of syrup from the pod. The latter does not give the user a dose of nicotine. If this is the case, the light will remain off, signifying that the user’s hit is not registering. Otherwise, the light will turn white for as long as the user hits the device. Before the JUUL, users had to rely on how much evaporated syrup was visible after exhaling a hit. It is also ambiguous as to whether the machine is hitting on another e-cigarette because the user has to push a button down to hit it, and the button lights up after being pressed. With the JUUL there is no button. Lastly, some (not all) e-cigarettes depend on a larger power source to generate the power needed to vaporize the nicotine syrup, resulting in a larger product. This is inconvenient for users and are often more expensive. In this regard, JUUL has created a more portable (and in some cases, cheaper) alternative. The creators achieved a minimalist, sleek, and discreet alternative with this product, which “is a big shift for e-cigarettes” (Vox).

The second part is the disposable pod at the top that contains the nicotine syrup and has a plastic mouthpiece. The pod consists of a plastic mouthpiece that the user sucks through, a small plastic rectangle containing the nicotine syrup, and pieces of copper at the bottom that sync with the body and helps heat up the syrup. There is also a vertical metal pole in the middle that heats up the syrup. Other e-cigarettes are either refillable, which can be inconvenient of messy for the user, or there are disposable but are screw-off. The JUUL offers a pod that operates like a pen does — you can click it in and you can pull it out. The JUUL also offers a variety of flavors, including mango, mint, cotton candy, tobacco, and crème Brule. Their idea was the average user who was switching from cigarettes to a healthier alternative would develop a psychological affiliation between nicotine and a flavor, effectively eliminating the user’s desire for a combustible cigarette. JUUL conducted several studies indicating that a connection between taste and nicotine yielded favorable results in the switch from the unflavored product to the flavored product. What they did not publish initially, however, was the fact that their main customers for the “candy-like” flavors were mostly kids and new smokers. Although JUUL’s mission statement is to convert smokers to e-cigarettes, there were lots of new adolescent smokers who preferred these flavors, and JUUL profited immensely off of this. Lastly, there are many users that are embarrassed that they are addicted to nicotine and need to take smoke breaks. Older e-cigarettes create larger, thicker evaporations when activated. The JUUL can create evaporation with moderate thickness, but it is much easier to conceal a JUUL hit because of the small body and also the characteristics of JUUL’s evaporated syrup. This is revolutionary because this potentially eliminated “the smoke break” or the need to put everything else on pause in order to have a smoke.

The Reality

Instead of a decrease in the total nicotine usage in the United States, we got an unparalleled surge in teenage nicotine users. Did adult cigarette users switch to JUUL? Yes, however, investigation into JUUL’s marketing campaign shows that they were aware of the teen nicotine problem far before they settled numerous lawsuits pertaining to underage use and addiction. Their advertisements were clearly geared toward the younger generation as they marketed “relaxation, sharing, travel, freedom, and sex appeal” (Vox YouTube video). What about this advertisement demonstrates commitment to switching adults from cigarettes to e-cigarettes? When you look at the age and body language of the girl in the ad below, it seems like it’s clearly geared towards people under a certain age showing that the JUUL is “cool” or “hip” because pretty girls are using the product. Does it look like it is geared for a middle-aged adult fighting a life-long nicotine addiction? Vox, a news company that investigated a myriad of JUUL’s issues, says, JUUL intentionally sold values including “relaxation, sharing, travel, freedom, and sex appeal” (Vox). This ad clearly contains sex appeal for teenage boys.

“Our mission is to transition the world’s billion adult smokers away from combustible cigarettes, eliminate their use, and combat underage usage of our products” (JUUL) reads the mission statement of JUUL, the world’s most popular e-cigarette. The last phrase, “and combat underage use of our products” has not always been part of the mission, but they appended this facing a myriad of lawsuits regarding underage use and terrible publicity. I already mentioned the problem with a surge in new adolescent smokers as a result of accessibility and flavor choices, but JUUL also weaponized the trust placed in them due to ads and common sentiment. JUUL markets their “safer” alternative, but in reality it is just a “substitution of chemicals” (CNBC). The long-term health effects of JUUL usage remain uncertain, but people continue to operate under the assumption that it’s “not as bad” as a cigarette. There is also an unspoken advertisement that JUUL uses to fight cigarettes, and that is their modern appearance. “We trust modern stuff a little bit more — we can use it and won’t have trouble with it because… you can trust it” (Vox). Today, everyone knows how bad cigarettes can be for your health. My school even designated a unit in PE to educate us on the long list of health effects it can have on a life. They even made us look at a list of every ingredient in a cigarette and they designated which of them were carcinogens. Many of their claims relied on empirical evidence from long-term studies. Unfortunately, we do not have the datapoints to definitely point at health effects someone will certainly experience from using a JUUL. We know some of these effects are exacerbated when children use them, which include asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Conclusion

From a product design standpoint, the JUUL is incredible. User interface is simple, communicative, and aesthetically pleasing. In fact, it is such an impressive product it not only facilitated a switch from existing combustible cigarette users, it created a new epidemic among minors in the United States. The discreet nature of the JUUL and evasiveness from smoke detectors allows minors to use in the bathrooms at school, which has led to many schools investing in vapor detectors. To illustrate the potency of the nicotine syrup in a JUUL, countries in the EU set a maximum nicotine limit on their e-cigarettes, which is less than 1/3 of the nicotine levels of the JUUL. JUUL still doesn’t seem to have much of a problem with the numerous problems they have created in the country. Yes, they have made settlements outside of court and donated $30 million dollars to combat underage use. Keep in mind that this was likely a result of public scrutiny and they are still a $15 billion company — this was a small price to improve their standing the in the public eye and this was done after they already made far more than $30 million from underage use. At the end of the day, JUUL still profited from millions of adolescent and teenage addictions that started with JUUL usage, not cigarettes.

Citations

Works Cited

“How Juul Made Nicotine Go Viral.” YouTube, 10 Aug. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFOpoKBUyok.

Jeniecep. “How Juul Made Vaping Cool and Became a $15 Billion e-Cigarette Giant.” CNBC, CNBC, 17 Sept. 2018, www.cnbc.com/video/2018/09/11/how-juul-became-a-15-billion-e-cigarette-company.html.