Juul Labs continues to face one setback after another. On Tuesday, the company maker was sued by New York state with charges of selling of irresponsibly marketing and selling flavored e-cigarettes to teenagers and promoting the habit of vaping.
The lawsuit announced by New York Attorney General Letitia James follows a similar lawsuit filed by California earlier this week. Earlier in May, Juul was sued by North Carolina on similar charges seeking a ban on the company.
The lawsuit claims that Juul initiated a marketing campaign targeting children in the age group of 13 to 17 and promoted the sale of e-cigarettes downplaying the health hazards related to smoking and vaping of high-nicotine based e-cigarettes.
According to USA Today, New York wants a ban on the e-cigarette maker for using deceptive marketing tactics to promote the habit of vaping and use of high-nicotine e-cigarettes in minors.
The back-to-back lawsuits and similar charges of promoting and selling nicotine products to minors by individual organizations have kept the company under pressure for quite some time now. Juul is also being investigated by the Food and Drug Administration and Federal Trade Commission for igniting a vaping epidemic among minors.
Juul cornered by authorities
San Francisco-based Juul Labs has been caught in the eye of a storm for months now. The start-up within a short span of time went on to become the largest e-cigarette manufacturer in the country.
The lawsuit from New York comes with additional charges that Juul misrepresented it products and sold them to minors by promoting that they were safer than cigarettes.
Increasing number of lawsuits
As an increasing number of charges and lawsuits against for using deceptive marketing tools and luring minors to smoke high-nicotine e-cigarettes continue to mount, Juul has been struggling to restructure the company's operations.
Two weeks back, Juul announced that it would halt sales of its mint-flavored nicotine pods. The mint-flavored nicotine pods were found to be the most popular flavor among high school students, tarnishing the company's image to a great extent.
Also last week it announced that it will be downsizing the organization and will lay off 650 heads in a move to revamp its strategy in the face of heightened scrutiny of vaping. Besides, a number of schools, counties and even individual too have been slapping lawsuits on Juul Labs.
