JUUL

WASHINGTON, DC – Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb today announced that JUUL Labs, Inc. (JUUL) will pay $15.2 million – the largest litigated settlement the DC Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has secured under the Consumer Protection Procedures Act in District history – to resolve allegations that it marketed nicotine products to District youth and misled District consumers about the product’s highly-addictive qualities. At least 50% of the settlement amount will be used directly to mitigate the public health damages JUUL’s products caused. In addition to the financial settlement, JUUL must abide by strict advertising restrictions that prevent it from engaging in harmful marketing practices in the future.

E-cigarette companies increasingly employ sophisticated corporate political activities (CPAs) that mirror the historical strategies of the traditional tobacco industry. This study examines the power dynamics within JUUL Labs's CPAs by applying the Temporal Three-Dimensional Power Framework to analyze both the dimensions of power and their temporal evolution. Critical Discourse Study approaches were used to analyze 82 corporate internal documents produced between 2017 and 2020 and to identify how power operates within these activities. We mapped JUUL Labs's CPAs to five strategies—displacing public health, managing reputations, influencing policy-making, manufacturing support, and shaping evidence—and performed a power analysis, leveraging three dimensions of power: visible power through lobbying and funding; hidden power via agenda-setting by mobilizing “Thought Leaders” (influencers in different areas who have expressed specific views or attitudes to the e-cigarette industry); and invisible power through ideological mobilization. We further demonstrate how these power dimensions accumulate, transform, and reconstruct over time to extend corporate influence. This research underscores the necessity of a power framework to address the underlying dynamics used by unhealthy commodity industries and their evolution over time, showing that effective public health interventions require unpacking these cumulative layers of influence to develop effective counter-strategies.

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter to JUUL Labs Inc. for marketing unauthorized modified risk tobacco products by engaging in labeling, advertising, and/or other activities directed to consumers, including a presentation given to youth at a school. The agency also sent a letter to the company expressing concern, and requesting more information, about several issues raised in a recent Congressional hearing regarding JUUL’s outreach and marketing practices, including those targeted at students, tribes, health insurers and employers. These letters are the latest in a series of actions the agency has taken as part of its continued commitment to providing strong oversight of e-cigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and the latest development in the FDA’s ongoing investigation related to JUUL.

Desperate to shake its image as a teen-friendly company, Juul unveiled an ad campaign in January featuring testimonials of former smokers who "switched" to Juul from cigarettes. By using the word "switch" instead of "quit," Juul maintained it wasn't violating rules that require FDA approval for "smoking cessation" devices. The FDA has approved skin patches, chewing gum and lozenges as official "nicotine replacement therapy" — but not e-cigarettes.

The company has come under even greater fire recently. Last week, the FDA accused Juul of illegally marketing its product and moved to ban the sale of all flavored e-cigarettes regardless of age.

Juul Labs, the e-cigarette maker, is paying $462 million to six US states and DC in the largest multi-state settlement yet for the troubled company that has been accused of contributing to the rise of vaping among youth.

In September 2022, the Wisconsin Department of Justice announced that Wisconsin would receive payments as part of a multi-state settlement with JUUL Labs. The settlement addresses the harm caused by JUUL’s marketing practices, including marketing their e-cigarette (vape) products to underage consumers. As result of the settlement, Wisconsin will receive at least $14.7 million over five to 10 years to fund prevention and cessation efforts related to e-cigarette products for youth and young adults up to age 24.

Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul today, along with six other attorneys general, announced a $462 million settlement with Juul Labs Inc. (Juul), one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of e-cigarettes. The settlement provides critical injunctive relief to prevent Juul from marketing and selling its products to youth. In 2019, Illinois was among the first states in the nation to sue Juul alleging the company marketed its harmful nicotine products to minors. Attorney General Raoul’s office co-led negotiations resulting in the largest settlement any states have reached with Juul to hold the company accountable for contributing to the youth vaping epidemic. Illinois will receive approximately $67.6 million under the agreement.

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Bonta today announced a $462 million multistate settlement agreement with electronic cigarette maker, JUUL, Labs, Inc. (JUUL) that was negotiated by the California Department of Justice (DOJ) and six other states. The settlement resolves multiple lawsuits — including one filed by DOJ, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, and the County of Los Angeles — alleging JUUL violated state laws by targeting young people through its advertising and promotional campaigns. Of the $462 million settlement amount, California will receive a total of $175.8 million, the highest amount of any state settlement yet reached with JUUL. The money will help California fund research, education, and enforcement efforts related to e-cigarettes. JUUL will also be prohibited from targeting youth in its advertising and promotion under the terms of the deal.

The state investigation found that Juul marketed its e-cigarettes to underage teens with launch parties, product giveaways and ads and social media posts using youthful models, according to a statement.

JUUL was, until recently, one of the biggest players in the vaping market. The multistate investigation revealed that JUUL rose to this position by willfully engaging in an advertising campaign that appealed to youth, even though its e-cigarettes are both illegal for them to purchase and unhealthy for them to use. The investigation found that JUUL relentlessly marketed to underage users with launch parties, advertisements using young and trendy-looking models, social media posts, and free samples. It marketed a technology-focused, sleek vape that could be easily concealed and sold its product in flavors known to be attractive to underage users. JUUL also manipulated the chemical composition of its product to make the vapor less harsh on the throats of the young and inexperienced users. To preserve its young customer base, JUUL relied on age-verification techniques that it knew were ineffective.

JUUL was, until recently, the dominant player in the vaping market. The multistate investigation revealed that JUUL rose to this position by willfully engaging in an advertising campaign that appealed to youth, even though its e-cigarettes are both illegal for them to purchase and are unhealthy for youth to use. The investigation found that JUUL relentlessly marketed to underage users with launch parties, advertisements using young and trendy-looking models, social media posts and free samples. It marketed a technology-focused, sleek design that could be easily concealed and sold its product in flavors known to be attractive to underage users. JUUL also manipulated the chemical composition of its product to make the vapor less harsh on the throats of young and inexperienced users. To preserve its young customer base, JUUL relied on age verification techniques that it knew were ineffective.

JUUL Labs engaged with civic groups to manufacture support, leveraging its economic power (transforming from visible to invisible power; C1-6). JUUL Labs employed an “ethnic news strategy” targeting ethnic civil society and minority media to “gain supporters” and “neutralize opponents” (C1). Emails reveal efforts to deliver youth prevention messages to senior voters (“people-over-50-who-vote”) while engaging “Black and Latino local leaders,” “Asian American and Native American community papers,” and “LGBT media.” These are selected demographics exhibiting “the highest smoking” rates (C2).

Drawing on Ulucanlar et al.'s (2023) taxonomy, we identified five empirically supported CPA types in JUUL Labs's documents: displacing public health, managing reputations, influencing policy-making, manufacturing support, and shaping evidence. These activities demonstrate the interplay of power, which was concentrated within TL networking and leveraged through them. JUUL Labs created an Excel file titled “Thought Leader Map” (A1), identifying about 200 individuals and organizations as target influencers (TLs). These include prominent scholars, former and current politicians, officials, broadcasters, think tanks, civil society organizations, and bloggers (A1). The map's “Top 10 names with top credibility” include two former FDA commissioners, a former CDC director, a former senator, and a former Secretary of Health and Human Services of the US. Some influencers are rated on a five-point scale from “1) completely skeptical and can't talk to them” to “5) strongly pro-harm reduction.” For example, a former CDC director was rated as “completely skeptical and can't talk to them,” receiving 1-point, as “CDC under his leadership equated the harm of vaping with smoking” (A1). For each, JUUL Labs documented their “relationship owner,” “nature of relationship,” “contact history,” and “status/next steps.” Here, the “relationship owner” is an internal JUUL Labs contact who can access a TL. The “nature of relationship” denotes how they are connected to the TL. For example, JUUL Labs adviser F is the relationship owner for Professor G (TL) because they are colleagues. F contacted G on February 6, 2018 (contact history), and the status/next steps are described as “in process of scheduling meeting” (A1). Such leveraging of TLs is observed across all CPA strategies.

Think tanks have a reputation as impartial laboratories of policymaking. But the Juul emails reveal the company pursued partnerships with these organizations with the express purpose of revamping its image in Washington.

According to an internal spreadsheet entitled “Political Giving Strategy,” Juul considered writing six figure checks from the company’s treasury to several so-called “social welfare organizations” as a means of influencing congressional leaders. Unlike other political donations, corporations aren’t required to disclose their donations to these sorts of organizations, known as 501(c)(4)s.

For consumers, JUUL was marketed and perceived as an e-cigarette with a slim design and flavored nicotine-salt pods (Marlowe, 2023). The problem was that its design and sweet flavors appealed to adolescents through social media marketing, making it part of US youth peer culture (“vape lounges” and “bag smoking”) and driving youth adoption (Marlowe, 2023). JUUL's US e-cigarette market share surged from 24% to 75% (2017-2018), with a 78% spike in high school vaping rates (Cullen et al., 2018; Truth Initiative, 2018). Alongside these, THC (cannabis) cartridges compatible with JUUL devices were counterfeited and distributed, causing lung injuries (Balmes, 2019). Altogether, the company faced public blame for youth vaping and lung injuries, following regulations and lawsuits (TobaccoTactics, 2025). Throughout this process, JUUL Labs strived to respond to criticisms and create a favorable policy environment through various CPAs.

WASHINGTON — A new trove of internal emails and other documents from the e-cigarette maker Juul reveals the company’s extensive behind-the-scenes efforts to promote its interests in Washington — a rare insight into the otherwise opaque methods corporations use to influence the government.

In 2023, Attorney General Letitia James secured a settlement with JUUL Labs, Inc. that included funds totaling more than $112.7 million. These funds will be given to New York subdivisions that provide programs for prevention and cessation of e-cigarette (vaping) use, treatment for e-cigarette use, and enforcement of laws regarding e-cigarettes. The following sections provide further detail about the funds.

JUUL Labs has established a dedicated Scientific Affairs (SA) Department for shaping evidence and engaging with scholars.

On July 17, 2025, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorised marketing of five Juul e-cigarette products to adults, including menthol and tobacco flavour cartridges, formally rescinding its 2022 ban on the company's products. The decision is a lifeline for Juul Labs, which was rumoured to be facing possible bankruptcy after settling lawsuits for nearly a half-billion dollars in 2023 over illegal marketing of e-cigarettes to teenagers.

In 2022, Juul settled some 5,000 lawsuits from states, counties and school districts that alleged that the e-cigarette maker used deceptive marketing aimed at teens and neglected to prevent underage sales of its products. Since then, additional suits have been settled. Money from those settlements has been used by schools from Spokane, Wash., to Orlando, Fla., to install vape detectors.

Jonathan Kieffer, one of the lawyers representing TUSD, other school districts and individuals across the country in litigation against Juul, says the company has teen-centric marketing, which has created a huge burden on public schools at a time when teen tobacco use had been drastically reduced.

The People commenced this action on November 19, 2019, against defendant JUUL Labs, Inc. (JUUL), alleging that JUUL's marketing and sales of its electronic cigarettes constitute deceptive and illegal practices, and contributed to a statewide public health crisis. On May 6, 2021, the People amended the complaint to add, among others, defendants, who, at all relevant times, were corporate officers of JUUL and allegedly were involved in, and approved of, JUUL's marketing strategies. As relevant to this appeal, the amended complaint asserts, as against defendants, causes of action pursuant to General Business Law §§ 349 and 350, for deceptive acts and practices and for false advertising, respectively; pursuant to Executive Law § 63 (12), for repeated and persistent fraud and illegal conduct in violation of General Business Law §§ 349 and 350 and section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 USC § 45); and, for public nuisance.

Juul settled a class action lawsuit that claimed customers paid more for the e-cigarettes than if the company had accurately described the product’s addictiveness and safety.

Tobacco companies including Philip Morris USA (an Altria company) have had a long history of using findings from industry-sponsored scientific research to positively portray the industry, and lobbying against regulatory actions.9 For instance, the industry founded the Tobacco Institute (1958–1998) and the Center for Indoor Air Research (1988–1998) to fund internal and external research among scientific consultants and research organizations to support their positions.9 Shortly after the investment from Altria, JUUL Labs appear to employ similar strategies used by Philip Morris and other tobacco companies to influence research on vaping. JUUL Labs established JLI Science in early 2019, with the stated goal to “better understand the effects and impact vaping products have in the long term, while also discouraging new users, and to share those results with the scientific community”.10 JUUL Labs solicits research proposals from the scientific community, conducts research internally, and supports research contracts with organizations based in the US, UK, and New Zealand including Enthalpy Analytical, Inc., Center for Substance Use Research Ltd., Celerion, Inc., Rose Research Center, LLC, Inflamax Research, Inc., and Christchurch Clinical Studies Trust, Ltd.11 A search on ClinicalTrials.gov in May 2019 revealed six registered trials funded by JUUL Labs (five completed, one ongoing).12 Findings from JUUL Labs-funded studies were presented at several scientific meetings including the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT), SRNT-Europe, Global Forum on Nicotine Conference, and the Altria-sponsored Tobacco Science Research Conference. These findings and conference presentation are available on the JLI Science’s website (https://jliscience.com/research-library), press releases, and news reports.14 For instance, in a press release about a recent article published in a “questionable” journal13 that reported a decline in cigarette consumption among adult smokers who purchased JUUL devices, Kevin Burns, CEO of JUUL Labs, was quoted: “… growing body of peer-reviewed research demonstrating the significant impact JUUL products may have on helping adult smokers eliminate or substantially decrease their cigarette consumption.”14 JUUL Labs also increased its spending on lobbying operations and political contributions in 2018 to federal and state lawmakers and political committees, undermining JUUL Labs’ public pledge to discourage youth use of their products.15

JUUL Labs managed its reputation through media promotion and responses to unfavorable press threatening its reputation (A5-7). Investing over $30 million across media channels in 2018, it aimed to promote favorable discourse and exclude negative agendas (Kostygina et al., 2022; A8). During its South Korea launch in 2019, JUUL Labs intervened in a Korean newspaper to modify a report linking JUUL to youth smoking and drug misuse. Following multiple rounds of correspondence with the reporter and chief editor, it successfully secured the deletion of drug-related headings and sentences (A5). Wayback Machine's digital time-capsule that can track document revisions revealed that removed passages had highlighted regulatory loopholes and tax exclusions such as “easy to be exposed to liquid drugs by exploiting JUUL,” “not defined as cigarettes, regulations are weak,” and “excluded from the tax” (A5-7; Internet Archive, 2023). Emails show this intervention prioritized averting government scrutiny due to Korea's strict marijuana stance (A6-7). Ultimately, media monitoring functions to manage reputations and shape a conducive environment by accumulating hidden and invisible power.

Electronic cigarettes (ECIGs) are controversial and increasingly popular devices that heat and vaporise a liquid to produce an aerosol that can deliver nicotine. In June 2015, Pax Labs launched an ultraportable ECIG device called JUUL. Resembling a universal serial bus (USB) flash drive, it is easily concealed at home and school and has proven popular among underage teens.1 Its popularity with adolescents recently led the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to pursue enforcement actions to stop youth use and access to JUUL. JUUL is currently one of the most popular ECIG brands in the USA; it holds the top market position in US ECIG sales revenues, accounting for approximately half the total LTS ECIG market.2

WASHINGTON (AP) — E-cigarette giant Juul Labs gave nearly $100,000 to members of Congress during the first half of 2019 as the company faced the bulk of the blame for a surge of underage vaping and calls for tighter government regulation of the industry.

Juul has assembled an extensive network of lobbyists amid mounting concern over e-cigarettes and warnings from the FDA that regulatory steps may be inevitable to combat what public health officials and anti-smoking groups have described as an epidemic of youth vaping.

Juul plans to market the new device under the brand name Juul2, along with updated versions of its tobacco- and menthol-flavored cartridges. In 2019, the company discontinued several flavors, including mango, mint and creme, that drove most of its sales but were favored by teens.

In the past few days, the big news about Juul has been the Altria investment. Juul’s mission is to improve the lives of the world’s 1 billion smokers by giving them an alternative to “combustible” cigarettes, as the company calls them. “We envision a world where fewer people smoke cigarettes,” according to the company’s mission statement. So selling more than a third of Juul to the nation’s largest tobacco company could seem like an odd choice at best and a sellout at worst. It was a controversial enough move that CEO Kevin Burns issued a public statement offering a detailed explanation of his rationale for accepting Altria’s investment and assuring the company’s constituents that the deal would help Juul achieve its goal to enable more people to switch from cigarettes to e-cigarettes.

So Juul’s move is helping the company win the talent wars. It’s also helped the company win the news cycle. Up until recently, most of the news about the company had to do with federal regulators accusing Juul of selling its product to minors, creating an addiction to nicotine and possibly affecting their brain development. Last month, the company closed down its Facebook and Instagram accounts and stopped selling its mango, fruit, creme, and cucumber pods in retail stores, in a bid to reduce teenage usage ahead of potential governmental action.

What would you do with an extra $1.3 million? The 1,500 employees of e-cigarette maker Juul are going to get the chance to answer that question. Although the company has made no public announcement, insiders told CNBC that the company had received a one-time dividend payment of $2 billion as part of an investment deal with Altria (the parent company of Philip Morris), which is spending $12.8 billion to buy 35 percent of Juul’s shares. The sources inside Juul, who remain anonymous, say that the company decided to divide that bonus among its employees.

Juul just got a $2 billion dividend payment from its new investor Altria. It decided to give that money to employees.

Juul announced last November that it would stop selling all but one flavored product in stores, part of an effort to discourage youth vaping. Customers can buy only menthol products in stores but can still order flavored products online.

Corporations are required by law to disclose every lobbyist they pay, both inside and outside the company. But the Juul documents show that those registered lobbyists are far from the only influential people companies employ to help them navigate Washington.

<table> <thead> <tr> <th>Cycle</th> <th>Total</th> <th>Democrats</th> <th>% to Dems</th> <th>Republicans</th> <th>% to Repubs</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>2024</td> <td>$422,221</td> <td>$161,900</td> <td>77.40%</td> <td>$47,276</td> <td>22.60%</td> </tr> <tr> <td>2022</td> <td>$573,873</td> <td>$82,116</td> <td>44.31%</td> <td>$103,210</td> <td>55.69%</td> </tr> <tr> <td>2020</td> <td>$882,326</td> <td>$457,155</td> <td>58.06%</td> <td>$330,293</td> <td>41.94%</td> </tr> <tr> <td>2018</td> <td>$291,311</td> <td>$32,781</td> <td>17.16%</td> <td>$158,200</td> <td>82.84%</td> </tr> </tbody> </table>

<table> <thead> <tr> <th>Recipient</th> <th>Total</th> <th>From Individualsimore info </th> <th>From PACsimore info </th> <th>Typeimore info </th> <th>view</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>Congressional Leadership Fund</td> <td>$150,000</td> <td>$0</td> <td>$150,000</td> <td>Carey</td> <td>Conservative</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Senate Leadership Fund</td> <td>$50,000</td> <td>$0</td> <td>$50,000</td> <td>Outside Group</td> <td>Conservative</td> </tr> <tr> <td>DNC Services Corp</td> <td>$43,550</td> <td>$43,550</td> <td>$0</td> <td>Political Party</td> <td>Democrat</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte</td> <td>$17,000</td> <td>$17,000</td> <td>$0</td> <td>Political Party</td> <td>Democrat</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Comer, James</td> <td>$10,750</td> <td>$5,750</td> <td>$5,000</td> <td>Candidate (R-KY01)</td> <td>Republican</td>

With their recent marketing campaign 1 (Figure 1), JUUL joins a long tradition of tobacco companies targeting the United States (U.S.) military and veteran population.1-6 JUUL advertises their electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) with testimonial endorsements from military veterans, 2 claims to support veteran service organizations,1 as well as offers discounts (i.e., a $1 starter packs) to military and veterans.3 (Figures 1-3). Perhaps most concerning, although e-cigarettes are not currently approved by the FDA as a cigarette cessation tool, 7 JUUL claims their product, “offers servicemen and first responders the tools to succeed at switching.” 1

JUUL Labs sought to influence policy-making to navigate tightening regulations targeting flavors, taxation, and marketing. JUUL Labs's three goals were to oppose flavor bans (specifically menthol); block tax increases; and support Tobacco-21 (B1). Supporting Tobacco-21 enabled JUUL Labs to project a ‘responsible marketer’ image (A3) that “doesn't entice youth (A2).” However, Kostygina et al. (2022) criticized that its spending on youth vaping prevention campaigns was concentrated in areas like Washington, where policymakers are located. This process of ideological mobilization and image-making as a policy partner exemplifies the transformation from invisible power (framing discourse) to hidden power (selected agenda).

Juul is recruiting users to join "The Switch Network," a sophisticated lobbying campaign designed to look like a grassroots movement.

Over the summer, e-cigarette maker Juul Labs started recruiting customers, painstakingly calling and emailing its users one by one.

The vaping company wasn't trying to boost sales. Instead, it was looking for loyal customers to help lobby state and local politicians in a new grassroots campaign. The goal was to find people willing to sign petitions, meet with lawmakers, testify at public hearings and tell the press about their success in using the company's vaping devices to "make the switch" from cigarettes.

Juul is indeed sharing customer information — names, email addresses, and phone numbers — with a PR firm that specializes in grassroots political messaging for business clients, Locust Street Group, a publicity firm based in Washington, DC. A representative for Juul confirmed that the company hired Locust Street for a public affairs campaign in New York, where the state government is currently mulling a ban on flavored e-cigarettes.

In April 2020, the FTC filed an administrative complaint alleging that Altria Group, Inc. and JUUL Labs, Inc. entered a series of agreements, including Altria’s acquisition of a 35% stake in JUUL, which eliminated competition in violation of federal antitrust laws. According to the complaint, this series of agreements involved Altria ceasing to compete in the U.S. market for closed-system electronic cigarettes, in return for a substantial ownership interest in JUUL – by far the dominant player in that market.

The Federal Trade Commission filed an administrative complaint alleging that Altria Group, Inc. and JUUL Labs, Inc. entered a series of agreements, including Altria’s acquisition of a 35% stake in JUUL, that eliminated competition in violation of federal antitrust laws. According to the complaint, this series of agreements involved Altria ceasing to compete in the U.S. market for closed-system electronic cigarettes in return for a substantial ownership interest in JUUL, by far the dominant player in that market. In an initial decision announced on Feb. 24, 2022, Chief Administrative Law Judge D. Michael Chappell dismissed the antitrust charges in the complaint.

When the FDA opened a docket in 2018 on the public health impact of flavored tobacco products, it was flooded with comments calling for a ban on flavors, which were then a key part of Juul’s business. The sudden public backlash prompted one consultant to pitch Juul on a counterattack — one that would use a dark money group associated with former Libertarian congressman Bob Barr and enlisted the support of prominent Christian conservative Rebecca Hagelin. It would cost the company $1.5 million.

Through strategic framing, JUUL Labs redefined tobacco harm by distinguishing youth from adult use and combustible cigarettes from e-cigarettes, positioning the latter as an alternative and less harmful. The youth-adult framing links to the freedom of choice ideology, contrasting ‘immature’ youth who need supervision with adults who possess smoking self-determination (Hawkins and van Schalkwyk, 2025). Its “Control the Message” PPT emphasized “freedom of choice” and established ‘minimizing access by youth’ as key framing (A2). By confining the anti-smoking agenda to youth, this implicitly criticizes adult-targeted interventions, thereby securing adult consumers. This framing leverages existing individual liberty ideology to assert that adult smoking is ‘not others’ business.’ Simultaneously, JUUL Labs drew on paternalistic ideology to claim that “JUUL is an exemplar in responsible marketing so it doesn't entice youth (A3).” Their strategy document, “Public Affairs Tactics: Digital Approach,” outlines using a direct-to-camera video featuring a key executive who has a son, thereby projecting parental “exemplar” images (A3). Its support for “Tobacco-21” legislation (raising the legal smoking age to 21) extended this logic (A4), positioning itself as a good policy partner and framing self-regulation as a substitute for stronger regulation (accumulated hidden and invisible power).

With state and federal governments looking to restrict vaping, the nation's largest e-cigarette maker pushed back with a multimillion-dollar advocacy campaign.

As President Trump, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and state governments crack down on vaping amid rising health concerns, hundreds of hospitalizations and six deaths, the nation's top e-cigarette manufacturer has responded by hiring enough lobbyists to fill a Boeing 727.

Juul Labs has spent millions of dollars on lobbying, hired high-profile Trump administration officials, and blanketed Washington with ads touting its efforts against underage vaping.

As regulators and legislators started raising concerns about the dangers of vaping, Juul was quietly bolstering its lobbying team.

An APM Reports analysis of state and federal lobbyist filings has found that Juul Labs Inc. — the San Francisco-based company that controls a third of the vaping market — hired nearly all its lobbyists in the 10 months since the federal government expressed alarm about how the company has marketed its products to teens.

An APM Reports analysis of state lobbyist registration records shows the company has bulked up its lobbying presence in states across the country. Juul was registered to lobby in two states — California and New York — in September 2018. Since then, the company expanded its lobby to all but two states.

Despite receiving heavy criticism for contributing to a dramatic increase in teen vaping, Juul says it markets itself only to adult cigarette smokers looking for a healthier alternative.

Juul threw millions of dollars at Washington. It hasn’t bought much.

To be clear, Juul has made more mistakes than I have space to list here. (I wrote a whole book about them and have covered them extensively for this magazine.) Its first marketing campaign—which the company has repeatedly denied was meant to attract kids—was, at the very least, ill-advised. It was too easy, for too long, for underage customers to buy Juul products online and in stores. Juul executives sent company representatives into schools to educate kids about the dangers of vaping, despite the sordid history of tobacco companies doing the same. They then accepted almost $13 billion from tobacco giant Altria, raising significant conflict of interest concerns. Though Juul has behaved more responsibly in recent years, it’s not hard to understand why it earned so much public scrutiny.

These celebratory statements center around Juul’s starring role in what federal regulators have called an epidemic of teenage nicotine addiction, one that many experts feared could undo decades of progress on smoking prevention. In that sense, its ordered exit from the U.S. market was a victory: finally, regulators were holding the company accountable and protecting kids.

Attorneys general in five states — Massachusetts, Connecticut, Colorado, Illinois and North Carolina, as well as Washington, D.C., have launched investigations into Juul. The AGs are probing the company's popularity among minors and its marketing as a "smoking cessation device" that doesn't have FDA approval.

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein is suing Juul and eight other e-cigarette companies. He alleges the companies target children, pointing to their candy-flavored products.

According to the filing, Juul advocated on the issue "regulation of e-cigarettes and vaping products designed to improve the lives of adult smokers." This most recent filing was also the first quarter when Juul indicated it lobbied to support legislation that would stop businesses from selling tobacco products to people younger than 21.

Elizabeth Jay Johannessen and Juul filed a stipulation of dismissal Tuesday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, saying that they resolved the dispute. She alleged her job duties were changed, she was excluded from certain meetings, and provided with an inadequate lactation room after she returned from maternity leave, in violation of federal anti-discrimination laws.

JUUL Labs provides an interesting case study, as it has engaged in political struggles since its expansion in 2018-2019. In 2018, JUUL Labs held a 75% share of the US ENDS market and exported to 11 countries (TobaccoTactics, 2025). However, as youth vaping issues surfaced, JUUL Labs faced criticism. In response to the rise of criticism and the strengthening of regulations, it engaged in various types of legally vetted CPAs, including displacing public health, managing reputations, influencing policy-making, manufacturing support, and shaping evidence (Ulucanlar et al., 2023).

Internal documents show, for example, that Juul was so interested in courting firefighter groups, that it put a former head of lobbying for the international firefighters labor union on retainer for $20,000 a month. Juul saw firefighters as a potential ally because combustible cigarettes are often tied to house fires, but it also saw an opportunity to use local firefighters’ positive image and political clout to defeat policies that hurt its bottom line.

Juul is spending heavily on PR efforts to protect its brand, doling out $4.5 million through July in San Francisco to pass an upcoming ballot initiative that would reverse the city's ban on the sale of e-cigarettes.

In San Francisco alone, Juul has spent more than $11 million lobbying against a ban on the sales of e-cigarettes. That includes a $7 million donation Juul recently made to the Coalition for Reasonable Vaping Regulation, according to local campaign finance data through Sept. 21. Finan declined to comment on Juul's lobbying, referring questions to its disclosure forms.

The company has repeatedly said that it markets its product only to adults and is taking steps to prevent youth vaping. Those measures include shutting down its Facebook and Instagram accounts in the United States, and supporting state and federal efforts to increase the age requirement to purchase tobacco products from 18 to 21.