- Juul Labs is discontinuing affiliate payments to reviewers
- The company is currently being investigated by the FDA for their role in the “teen vaping epidemic“
- Juul made the announcement via email to members of their affiliate program
- The move is viewed as a way for the company to regain control over their image
Juul Labs, manufacturer of the wildly popular Juul e-cig, just announced that they’re canceling their affiliate program. This is a major blow to vaping reviewers such as Vapor Vanity, who have spent time and effort helping Juul Labs promote their product and grow their business. Their current market share was partially based on reviewers helping to promote their brand, so we’re definitely disappointed to hear this news.
Juul Labs official affiliate termination announcement
Here is the email that Vapor Vanity received from Juul Labs’ affiliate manager:
Dear JR,
Thank you for all of your assistance in making JUUL a brand known to adult smokers for quality and innovation. As we transition to our next phase of marketing and customer engagement, I am writing to inform you that effective tomorrow, October 31st, the JUUL Labs’ affiliate program which is operated via Impact Radius and any other affiliate efforts will be on hold indefinitely until further notice.
We will be expiring all active contracts that are associated with your account. You will be paid through October 30th based on your current contract term.
Regarding next steps, please remove all banner ads (or any other JUUL display items) as well as any text link/deep links that are currently directing paid traffic to JUUL. This needs to be completed by end of week, Saturday November 3rd. Once you have completed removing all JUUL affiliate links, can you please communicate the completion of this with me via email at [removed for privacy]?
We will continue to evaluate the program with the team at Impact and reach out directly if there are any changes with the status of our program.
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out and I will answer your questions the best to my capability. I am more than happy to answer any questions via phone calls as well.
All the best,
Kathleen
What is an affiliate program?
Affiliate programs compensate publishers (such as us) who review products (such as the Juul). The way it works is that a company will provide the reviewer with a unique link that they can use to promote the brand. The reviewer writes an honest review and includes the link, so if you end up buying a product after reading a particular review, that publisher gets compensated. This happens behind the scenes and doesn’t affect the customer in any way. You aren’t charged more, and you won’t even know that the publisher is being compensated. This is one of the ways that Juul Labs has helped grow their brand to the point that they are at right now.
Juul Labs legal problems
The Juul currently accounts for approximately 70% of the e-cig market. Due to their commanding lead in this controversial industry, they’ve been in the cross hairs of the FDA, which is determined to regulate this growing industry.
Of course, Juul Labs isn’t a blameless victim here. While their enormous share of the market puts an obvious target on their back, their previous marketing practices also play a role. Their previous advertisements featured young, glamorous looking models in front of trendy backdrops that are clearly designed to make it look cool to younger vapers.
Recently, Juul has discontinued that campaign and now only features older former smokers who actually use the Juul to quit smoking. It seems like this recent dismissal of their affiliate advertising partnerships is another attempt to gain control of their image and defeat the FDA.
