Why Juul shut down social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram

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Silicon Valley’s favorite e-cigarette startup is getting off
social media.

In an attempt to address what government regulators are calling
an “epidemic” of
teen vaping, the e-cig startup Juul will delete its Facebook,
and Instagram accounts. The move is part of a
series of actions the company said it was taking on Tuesday
to make its sleek, flash-drive-like products less appealing to
young people ahead of an expected regulatory crackdown on e-cigs.
Right now, Juul is the top e-cig brand in the US, making up
nearly 80% of the e-cig market.

Juul will also temporarily
stop selling some of its flavored varieties in stores, with
the exception of mint — a flavor that remains available as
menthol in traditional cigarettes.

Juul has done a significant amount of
marketing on social media. According to one recent study, its
advertisements on Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram — platforms
known to be popular among young people — were a
smash hit. Juul said on Tuesday that it will not delete its
Twitter or YouTube accounts but will confine the content posted
on both of those channels to materials about quitting smoking and
customer support.

But Juul’s social media presence began years ago, and the results
of that campaign, which
flourished, may now be difficult to reign in.

A 2016 Juul
ad.
An ad on Juul’s website from
2016.

According to researchers, Juul stood out from other e-cigarette
brands by advertising predominantly on social media as opposed to
places like billboards or magazines. Those campaigns took off,

scientists said in a study published this summer in the
journal Tobacco Control. Sales of Juul devices were “highly
correlated” with the company’s social-media posts, the
researchers concluded.

Read more:

$15 billion startup Juul used ‘relaxation, freedom, and sex
appeal’ to market its creme-brulee-flavored e-cigs on Twitter and
Instagram — but its success has come at a big cost

Now, though, the advertising has a life of its own: Juul said in
a statement
on Tuesday that 99% of social media posts related to its devices
are generated by people with no link to the company.

A
tweet from Juul’s launch party in New York
City.
Twitter

“There is no question that this user-generated social media
content is linked to the appeal of vaping to underage users,”
Juul CEO Kevin Burns said in the statement issued yesterday.

The impact of deleting its social media accounts remains to be
seen. The Juul is already popular among young people, according
to a
study published in October which suggested a “rapid uptake”
of the Juul among youth, including minors.

Juul said it will also work with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter,
and Snapchat to “polic[e] unauthorized, youth-oriented content on
their platforms.”