Juul just can’t seem to stop fucking up?♂️.
In the latest in a long line of scandals and PR mishaps, it seems like a recruiter for Juul Labs is reaching out to potential employees for an executive role in a “health tech startup”. When potential employees responded to the offer, they learned that the “health tech” company is actually Juul.
Earlier this week, Katie Jacobs Stanton, chief marketing officer for Color (a genetics testing company), shared her response to Juul’s recruitment offer on Twitter. The merits of calling people out on social media for attention aside, it seems like this Tweet shows that Juul is trying to hide who they are. Presumably because they know that potential employees will already have a negative opinion of them.
Juul has been the focus of relentless FDA and media scrutiny after their pod-based vaporizer became the most popular e-cigarette among underage vapers. Their namesake product was previously marketed in a highly irresponsible way, which has caused many critics to accuse them of deliberately hooking the nation’s youth on nicotine.
In response, the company shuttered their affiliate program and US-based social media accounts. They also ended sales of flavored Juulpods in the convenience stores where most underage users obtain them. They launched a new advertising campaign, which they claim is geared only towards adult smokers who are looking to quit.
Of course, it shouldn’t be too difficult for Juul to fill the marketing role. The company recently sold a large stake to Altria in a deal that made every single one of their employees millionaires.
A company as successful as Juul should have known how their recruitment offer would be perceived. Hiding what type of company they are only serves to arouse even more suspicion and negative feelings toward the e-cigarette giant. The company currently has over 70% of the market, and in their role as the largest vapor company on the planet they can expect to see every aspect of their business analyzed and publicly criticized.
