Juul to Pay Washington State $22.5 Million Over Youth Vaping

14 Apr 2022

(Bloomberg) -- Juul Labs Inc. reached a $22.5 million settlement with Washington state over claims that it unlawfully targeted underage consumers with deceptive advertisements to push sales of its e-cigarettes and vaping products.

By Malathi Nayak and Joel Rosenblatt

Apr 13, 2022, 8:12 PM - Updated on Apr 13, 2022, 8:34 PM

Word Count: 265

“Juul put profits before people,” Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said Wednesday in a statement. “The company fueled a staggering rise in vaping among teens.”The settlement comes after North Carolina last year struck a $40 million deal with Juul over how it markets products to underage users. The e-cigarette maker agreed to stop all marketing aimed at young people as part of that deal announced in June.

Juul didn’t clearly state that its products contained nicotine and for more than 20 months, from August 2016 until April 2018, “unlawfully sold hundreds of thousands of vaping products to Washington consumers,” according to Washington’s lawsuit filed in 2020.

The company committed in the settlement to reforms including stopping all its advertising that appeals to youth and ending most social media promotion, according to the statement. Juul must also check Washington stores 25 times a month with secret shoppers to keep its products away from youth.

Juul said the terms of the settlement are consistent with its current practices and past agreements to combat underage use.

“This settlement is another step in our ongoing effort to reset our company and resolve issues from the past,” the company said in a statement. “We support the Washington State Attorney General’s plan to deploy resources to address underage use, such as future monitoring and enforcement.”

The company is facing similar suits by other states, including New York and California.

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