A Juul Cartridge is an electronic cigarette that is beginning to take hold in American society. Juul   cartridges are a form of Nicotine that can be ingested orally. I chose this advertisement due to the fact of many of my friends are beginning to smoke and use these devices. The advertisements are also some of the most updated marketing campaigns that I have seen, with a target audience mainly around millennial and new smokers. The flashy and colorful ads catch the eye of many youths and draw them into a new and hip smoking device that still will get you addicted. Juul Labs Inc was founded by two smokers who decided to apply themselves in a product development for an alternative smoking device that was small for he market. The product arrived on market on June 1, 2015. On the Juul Labs Inc website, they list their mission goal as improving the lives and advancing alternative smoking techniques into the next century with adult smokers in mind. The Juul is represented by PAX labs, which is an electronic cigarette company that was founded in 2007. In a 2015 article from The Verge, PAX is referred to as the “Lambo of Vaporizers” which is a strong and bold title to acquire. Their products are designed to look both sleek and concealing. The size of the vaporizers is aimed to reduce the eye catching of the public allowing for people to smoke in private in public places (Crook). Weird right? PAX Labs has been creating vaporizers since 2007 and have since cornered the market and produce the best product for vaporizer users – as seen in Business Insider, Engadget, Tech Crunch, and Mashable (Crook). Their website provides the idea that they are providing for the adult smoker, however, the advertisements, and marketing materials such as photos, show no adults but rather the rising young adult class in our nation (PAX Website). The pictures represent a young and fun lifestyle, older cigarette advertisements were always targeting the bold and masculine sides of men, and the strong and classy side of women who wanted to smoke. In all cases, most cigarette advertisement avoid the health aspects and focus on the fun and excitement that you can get out of life from a cigarette. This advertisement was taken from an article about Juul Vaporizers on a electronic cigarette advocacy site. This ad aims to target millennial and the fun generation, as expressed before, but it is attempting to brand a new generation of smoker, to show the world that people will still want to smoke and have the expressive fun life as pictured in the ad above. It is possible that the people who use Juul vapes will attract younger people, possibly a mate, or someone of importance because you are having fun. The marketing campaign has moved away form the need to be “cool,” instead it is focusing on the bright colors and fun in life that the Juul cartridge and vapes can provide to its users. Many of m friends are being attracted to these for many different reasons besides “fun” and “excitement.” Many of my friends who smoked cigarettes beforehand love their Juuls because of the ease it brings to them. As long as you don’t lose the tiny charger, the Juul can preform almost endlessly. The additional flavors also provide an out for those who want to smoke a cigarette, but not have the taste/smell/feeling that a cigarette provides. Many of my friends find their Juuls to be much more useful than carrying around a pack of cigarettes constantly. Evidently enough, I have firsthand experience with the fact that these advertisements work and have gotten many of my friends to start using these vaporizers, which was the point of the advertisement in the first place. Juul provides a list of ingredients in each pod as well as being transparent about the creation process. The following information comes directly from the Juul FAQ. The ingredient in a single pod are: glycerol, propylene glycol, natural oils, extracts and flavor, nicotine and benzoic acid. The first two ingredients are used to keep the liquid moist. The Benzoic acid is a food preservative and acts to keep the pods preserved and up to standard with other vaping liquids/or juices (Benzoic acid). Natural oils and extracts for flavor are added (they aren’t listed) and lastly nicotine is added. The nicotine added is in the form of nicotine salts and are dissolved in the liquid that is created for the pods adding the nicotine drug content. The single most troubling thing about these ingredients still comes down to the fact that the FDA has not approved this. The website gives information that the Juul e-liquid is tested by an independent lab. Within each pod, there is roughly a pack of cigarettes. The Juul website reports that each pod has “0.7mL with 5% nicotine by weight,” which is equivalent to the average pack of cigarettes, or 200 puffs. The advertisement makes no mention of any of the negative effects of nicotine and makes no mention of the negative effects that addiction to nicotine can have on you. However, when reading through the FAQ, many of the tabs expressed the idea that if you do not consume nicotine products already, that it isn’t a good idea to start now. Also communicated were the facts of no Tobacco product is safe, and again, if you aren’t already consuming tobacco products to not start. The effects of the Juul mimic the pleasure response to the consumption of tobacco, however the same psychological effects are taking place and the physical effects of tobacco on the human body still take place. The ad that I chose for this assignment is cleverly deceptive. The flashy colors draw you in. The pretty and smiling girl on the right side can express the sexual side of advertising, drawing in men who find her more attractive thus they will find he Juul more attractive. The Juul has been present for about 2 year now and the advertisement is advertising the addition of new flavors and once again draw in users to try the new flavors and thus to continue smoking. The ad does a great job of advertising bright and fun times, which is mostly what all cigarette ads perform with. The ease of advertising online is also a strong point to make. With a single click of the button I can be redirected to their website. From there, I can easily make a purchase of these Juuls and receive it in the mail only a few days later. Can I recommend this product to anyone? I would strongly urge everyone to stop smoking cigarettes and find a less intense product, use patches and use alternative methods to smoking. The product, while tested, isn’t approved by the FDA and is unknown to them as of today. I don’t feel positive about putting chemicals into bodies that are unknown to the after effects and later health problems. I have first-handedly watched friend go from smoking about a pack a week or more to using these Juuls. The only issue with that was the fact that they began going through multiple pods a week. That meant that many of my friends went from smoking about a pack a week, to smoking multiple packs a week. They increased their intake an incredible amount. I have been in a car with a very good friend who couldn’t find their Juul, we spent an extra hour and a half retracing steps all over town to find it. He was sweating, getting testy and angry, and needed his fix. Eventually we found the Juul, in his back pocket. He didn’t say sorry, or tried to make up the fact that he wasted a bunch of peoples time in order for him to get back to center. That occurred more than once with the same friend. When asked about if he had an addiction, he felt that he had it under control and that it didn’t affect others, this is a true statement. Smoking cigarettes and using Nicotine is dangerous and addictive. It can cause many different problems in and around your life. I don’t advise you to start using, however, if you are already a user, finding an alternative to help STOP is the key, finding an alternative to continue the habit does not benefit you or your health, at the end of the day, you are still ingesting chemicals that can cause cancer, heart disease, and countless other health issues. Citations:

Tiku, Nitasha (April 21, 2015). The Verge. Retrieved from https://www.theverge.com/2015/4/21/8458629/pax-labs-e-cigarette-juul

Crook, Jordan (July 16, 2017). TechCrunch. Retrieved from: https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/16/a-year-with-the-pax-labs-juul-vaporizer/

Benzoic acid. (n.d.). Retrieved October 23, 2017, from https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/benzoic_acid#section=Top

https://www.juullabs.com/our-story/

https://www.ecigsandcoupons.com/reviews/juul

https://www.paxvapor.com/