In episode 410 of the The Fighter and the Kid podcast, Brendan Schaub and Bryan Callen discussed Juul Labs latest decision to pull flavors from convenience stores. Brendan Schaub apparently isn’t the biggest fan of Juul or vaping in general. He had the following to say about Juul Labs’ decision:
Kids are getting addicted to it, right? And they market it to kids like it’s “unicorn flavor” and fucking “strawberry banana”. Because cigarettes are phasing out. If you smoke cigarettes you’re a fuckin’ moron. So now how they’re trying to get kids… these same companies are trying to get kids to buy these cool flavors and fuckin’ basically like what cereal did with “tricky for kids” or fuckin’ “Lucky Charms”, “Cookie Crisp”, and “Captain Crunch” and “Fruit Loops”, “Fruity Pebbles”…
Bryan Callen then asked if we “know how bad vaping is for you, because it’s all chemicals right?”. Brendan responded:
It’s very bad for you. Not good. Some cases have said that it’s worse than cigarettes as far as how hard it is on the lungs. It can’t be healthy. It’s really concentrated. And a lot of it is mixed with alcohol. Yeah, like vaping marijuana or a lot of this stuff they mix it with alcohol so you’re smoking that.
Juul Labs has been under intense scrutiny from the media and FDA over their marketing practices. Juul e-cigarettes are extremely popular amongst underage users and the company is accused of encouraging this through their marketing campaigns. Previous Juul advertisements featured young, trendy looking models that are more likely to appeal to younger consumers. Since then they have switched their advertising campaign to feature only older former smokers. In addition to ending their sale of flavored pods in convenience stores, the company also shut down their social media accounts. They also recently ended their affiliate program, which pays vape reviewers for featuring their products, without warning.
What do you guys think? Do you agree with Brendan Schaub that Juul and other vape companies are directly marketing to kids? Or is it all just a huge misunderstanding and the so-called “kiddie flavors” are actually marketed only to adults? Sound off in the comment section and let us know!
