E-cigarettes and vaping devices have long been controversial. A company called Juul is at the epicenter of that controversy, having produced a vaping device that revolutionized the e-cigarette industry and cornered the market.
The Juul vape pen was conceived as a tool to end traditional smoking and replace it with something less harmful. But since hitting stores, the devices have been embroiled in marketing scandals, personal injury lawsuits, and regulatory outrage.
Now, an in-depth Netflix documentary charts Juul’s rise and fall, from its early stages to its wild success and subsequent struggles and controversies.
Jamie Ducharme, a Time Health and Science correspondent, wrote the book Big Vape: The Incendiary Rise of Juul, which Netflix then optioned for an adaptation.
Here, we review Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul, mapping out the documentary’s timeline of events and analyzing its key points. We also investigate what is going on with Juul and the rest of the e-cigarette industry in 2024 and beyond.
- Episodes: 4
- Total Runtime: 3 hours 10 minutes
- Director: R.J. Cutler
- Genre: Documentary
- Release Date: October 2023
- Where to Watch: Netflix
Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul Review
Episode 1: The Spark
Episode one of the documentary starts with a startling statistic. At one point, Juul employed more than 4,000 people and was valued at $40 billion. Today, it is worth about 5% of that figure.
Next, it shows a montage of talking head interviews that show why this is such an interesting and contentious topic. Some people laud the Juul device as a technological breakthrough that helped them finally quit cigarettes, while others demonize it for starting a health crisis by putting profits over safety and marketing to children.
That sets the tone for a documentary that explores both points of view in detail, starting at the very beginning.
Big Vape – Episode 1 Timeline:
- Company founders James Monsees and Adam Bowen were Stanford product design program classmates.
- The pair smoked together but realized it was a bad habit. They shared the goal of creating a product that retained the aspects of smoking they liked but removed the negative elements, preserving the ritual without the health dangers.
- Cigarette companies are stuck in a holding pattern because they cannot figure out how to deliver nicotine without burning tobacco.
- James and Adam came up with the idea to heat tobacco instead of burning it, avoiding combustion to produce a less toxic mix.
- In 2007, they founded a company called Ploom Inc. and pitched their idea to potential investors. About 50 companies rejected them due to the negative perception of “vice” products.
- After their unsuccessful pitches, the founders instead targeted individual angel investors. They got several backers on board, and the company started scaling up in 2008.
- The company’s ethos is to move fast and break things in the name of innovation. One former employee described an incident in which one of the early prototypes exploded during a test.
- Before Ploom Inc. had a working prototype, other vaping products hit the market. The industry was exploding; it was the wild west with no regulations. Ploom Investors started to get twitchy and demanded results.
- James and Adam wanted Ploom to be different from the other products that had been rushed to market. They put a lot of thought into the look, shape, usability, and safety of their product.
- In 2010, they launched the Ploom Model One. It had six flavors, which was seen as a key selling point to get smokers to quit cigarettes for something that tasted better.
- Early users liked the product, but it didn’t provide enough of a nicotine hit to sway regular smokers.
- At this point, James Monsees took over as CEO, and Adam took a step back in the company hierarchy.
- The company’s goal was to save a billion lives by replacing cigarettes. However, to move the project forward, it accepted significant investment from JTI, a major Japanese tobacco company.
- Next, they released a weed delivery service called Pax by Ploom. It was a massive success and quickly outsold the Ploom Model One. But at the time, the cannabis market had a ceiling, and investors wanted a greater focus on the cigarette replacement project.
- In 2013, a chemist working for Ploom solved the delivery issue, allowing the Ploom e-cigarette to provide a hit that would satisfy smokers. The product was renamed Juul and was unveiled at the company’s 2014 Christmas party.
Key quote: “If we make the greatest e-cigarette in the world…is that a good idea? Is that a thing we should bring into the world?”
Episode 2: First Impressions
Big Vape – Episode 2 Timeline:
- Episode two opens with Juul’s early success. People reported trying it and quitting smoking cigarettes almost by accident due to its effectiveness.
- Wired Magazine ran a feature on Juul and spoke positively about the technological advancement. The reporter, David Pierce, is featured throughout the documentary and questions his own role in promoting Juul’s success.
- Extreme time pressures are placed on product developers to fix emerging issues, such as liquid leaking into mouths.
- With investors getting antsy again, James was not seen as the best face for the company. He often told journalists what he really thought, to the detriment of the product message. Juul hired Richard Mumby to handle marketing and bring more charisma to company leadership. Mumby brought in a new marketing team to drive a new approach.
- The new marketing team believed the e-cigarette industry advertising was lame and that Juul had too many tech-focused people who did not know how to make their product look cool.
- They changed the company’s trajectory by creating young, lifestyle-based campaigns, focusing on the cool factor at the expense of the original mission.
- Marketing schemes involved setting up events for young social media influencers, giving them free Juuls, and encouraging them to post pictures. They also had a Times Square takeover and TV commercials. The TV commercials, known as the “vaporized” campaign, were highly controversial. Critics described them as being like Apple ads but for e-cigarettes, glamorizing vaping.
- In 2015, Juul started to spread across social media, but the sales team was still struggling to get the product into stores.
- One in five customers was still reporting a significant leaking issue with the device, and production was halted at one point due to persistent problems.
- Juul also had issues at the top, with friction within company leadership and disagreements over the marketing strategy. Meanwhile, the FDA was finalizing plans to regulate the e-cigarette industry for the first time. Products would now be taxed, must go through FDA approval, and were banned for under-18s.
- In October 2015, a board meeting was called. In front of the staff, board members criticized operations and announced that James Monsees was being removed from the position of CEO. James and Adam had given away too much control and could not stop it, though they remained working at the company.
- The board took on a more hands-on role rather than immediately appointing a new CEO. From that point on, Juul became more profit-oriented than mission-conscious.
- In the summer of 2016, sales suddenly took off. The rapid rise was attributed to the earlier marketing campaign, which planted the seeds and waited for them to grow. Word of mouth spread, influencers everywhere were using Juuls, and celebrities started using the device without being paid to endorse it.
Key quotes: “We had a saying when something wasn’t quite right, but there’s a time crunch for its release. F*** it, ship it.”
“The success was like releasing a genie from a bottle. There was no going back.”
Episode 3: Where’s My Juul?
Big Vape – Episode 3 Timeline:
- In early 2017, Juul’s sales were through the roof. Demand outstripped supply. Stores marked pod packs up from $15 to $50 and still sold out quickly.
- Since James Monsees was demoted, there has been no clear leadership chain, so the board hired Kevin Burns as Juul’s new CEO. They deliberately chose a candidate who was more business-oriented than technology-focused.
- Kevin Burns was a supply chain guru who helped fix the supply issues. The company focused on expansion, hiring hundreds of people away from tech giants like Uber and Apple.
- Juul measured success on the declining sales of traditional cigarettes, as well as outright revenue. By both metrics, they were very successful and were looking to corner the entire smoke market.
- There was a massive uptick in the number of young people using Juuls. Critics say the product was tailor-made for Gen-Z, from the design and marketing to the flavors and addictive hit.
- Teachers report a rise in students vaping in class. The device looked like a USB stick and users could charge it in plain sight. Students could vape in class, often blowing the smoke into their clothing to avoid detection. According to one teen interviewed for the documentary, it became a unifying social activity at school.
- A huge number of social media accounts started popping up showing young people vaping with Juuls and glamorizing the lifestyle. The company tried to get many of these accounts taken down, aware of the optics, but was largely unsuccessful.
- Juul saw what was happening and took the issue seriously but thought it was manageable. They were wrong.
- At this point, there had been an 80% increase in high school vaping.
- The FDA was originally a Juul ally that supported its vision for eradicating cigarettes. However, the watchdog was alarmed at the numbers and declared e-cigarettes an epidemic that posed a significant risk to public health.
- Juul devised a PR strategy to visit schools and educate students about the dangers of vaping. Experts heavily criticized the education program, and the criticism proved to be justified. Students said it was more like a sales pitch, with a Juul rep telling them how much safer vaping was than smoking. They said it eased their minds and gave them confidence to keep vaping.
- Parents were horrified by the school visits and founded PAVE – Parents Against Vaping and E-Cigarettes. The parents called Juul “stealth by design,” while vaping advocates said parents must take some responsibility for what their children are doing.
- The best way to cut youth vaping was to stop selling flavored pods, but Kevin Burns was reluctant to do so because flavors made up a huge percentage of company revenue.
- Big Tobacco giant Altria – the parent company of Phillip Morris and Marlboro – struck a deal to buy 35% of Juul for nearly $13 billion. Many Juul staff members were angry, saying it felt like partnering with the devil.
Key quotes: “We were primed to be the next Apple. It felt like the rocket ship was taking off.”
“The truth is that if you make good things, people will use them. If you make them addictive, people will get addicted. And by the time we realize what’s going on, it’ll be too late.”
“It wasn’t a gateway to cigarette freedom. It was an exquisite jail they had created.”
Episode 4: Overnight Billionaires
Big Vape – Episode 4 Timeline
- Following the Altria investment, company leadership called an emergency meeting at Juul to try to answer the concerns of its angry staff. The takeover was extremely divisive because it didn’t align with the company’s mission.
- Kevin, Adam, and James tried to appease the staff in the meeting. They framed it as Big Tobacco admitting defeat. The deal involved a lot of investment, Juul adverts inside cigarette packets, more store shelf space for Juul products, and significant marketing power. The staff would also receive massive financial bonuses.
- The FDA was angry. They believed they were in sync with Juul but feared that this takeover would only increase sales and move the company closer to Big Tobacco.
- The FDA was under pressure from parent campaigns and politicians. They threatened to accelerate plans for vaping restrictions and even remove products from the market.
- Juul hired a director of youth prevention and developed age verification software that forced users to scan their licenses. The company also adjusted its marketing strategy to target adult smokers. But it was too little, too late.
- San Francisco’s City Attorney said Juul was preying on the FDA’s timidity and launched legislation banning the sale of e-cigarettes in the city unless the products first passed an FDA review.
- By this point, 20% of high schoolers were vaping, as well as 11% of middle schoolers.
- A government committee started an oversight investigation into vaping. Juul was forced to hand over 55,000 documents to the committee. Investigators found some of the documents to be damning, especially those regarding the marketing strategy and safety claims.
- James Monsees was summoned to testify before the committee under oath. He tried to answer their concerns, but the committee was on the offensive and held James and Juul accountable for the ongoing public health crisis.
- Around this time, cases started to pop up with young people suffering serious illnesses. Victims suffered throat pain, chest pain, and then severe respiratory failure. Doctors discovered that all of the victims vaped.
- Media outlets caught wind of the story and reported on dozens of cases across several states. Some people suffered lung damage, while there were also some fatalities. It got so bad that the CDC got involved.
- With so many sicknesses reported, people started to panic. Protestors gathered outside the Juul offices, and sales began to slow.
- The CDC identified a chemical of concern called vitamin E among victims. Investigators discovered that most of the people falling ill were using black-market THC products in pods sold by third-party sellers rather than the official Juul pods. However, this clarification didn’t get a lot of traction. In the minds of many people, Juul was responsible for the illnesses.
- It is widely believed that the CDC took advantage of the health scare to get people to quit vaping. Several states, including New York and Michigan, announced moves to ban flavored smoke products.
- The spate of hospitalizations spread misconceptions about vaping. It is still better than smoking cigarettes, but that was not necessarily the public perception anymore. Trust was evaporating.
- 2019 was disastrous for Juul financially, and Kevin Burns was replaced as CEO by KC Crosthwaite, a Big Tobacco executive.
- Many of the original staff had already left Juul. James and Adam became marginalized until they left the company they started. This was the final step of Juul’s transition into a tobacco company.
- Juul’s products were pulled from the market after the FDA rejected its application. They were reinstated on appeal, pending a review, but the company’s future remains uncertain.
- Through 2023, Juul had paid out $3 billion in legal settlements across the United States.
- IMDb Rating: 7.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer – 100% / Audience Score – 68%
- Netflix Stats: Multiple weeks on the top-10 shows chart
Summing Up the Rise and Fall of Juul Documentary
The Big Vape documentary succeeds because it gives a rounded view of the Juul craze, bringing us as close to the proceedings as possible. While it focuses on all the negatives that eventually pushed Juul into a tailspin, it also hits on the noble mission that initially inspired the product.
Big Vape goes to great lengths to reinforce the original mission statement. James Monsees and Adam Bowen set out to save lives and make the ritual of smoking safer. Their product worked, and they made significant progress toward that goal. But the mission was ultimately undermined by greed, which saw the company abandon its core values by marketing to the widest possible audience, including young people.
Interviews
The documentary suffers because it does not include interviews with any of the big guns. James Monsees, Adam Bowen, and Richard Mumby all declined to take part, but the filmmakers do a great job of immersing viewers in first-hand accounts anyway.
In the early stages of the documentary, we get snippets of interviews that the founders have done in the past, as well as graphics and illustrated recreations of key situations. These make us feel that the key players are a part of the documentary, even when they don’t appear.
Filmmakers augment those devices with a massive array of talking heads from people who were close to the action. They include Juul employees, investors, journalists, critics, users, influencers, doctors, marketers, government officials, and other experts. Between them, they give viewers valuable accounts, insights, and perspectives from all angles.
Marketing: The Main Controversy
Juul made plenty of mistakes, from teaming up with Big Tobacco to being slow to react to serious concerns. However, the most controversial aspect of the company was its marketing. By creating flavored pods with youth-friendly names, tapping into the power of influencers and social media, and creating high-energy and colorful TV ads, the product would always end up in the hands of young people.
The advertising campaign was highly successful in driving sales. Whether this was a coordinated effort to target youngsters or an unfortunate by-product of creating an effective product with a cool design is up for debate, and the documentary does just that.
Unfortunately, the results are clear. The common conclusion is that Juul’s mission was noble, at least to start with. It positively impacted many people, some of whom provided interviews for the Big Vape documentary. But that good work was undone as the product spread from adult smokers to impressionable teens.
What's Happening with Juul Now?
Vaping regulations are still evolving, so the situation surrounding Juul is still uncertain. However, there has been progress in recent months.
In 2018, Juul removed most of its flavored pod products from stores in response to the teen vaping crisis. The company now only sells menthol and tobacco flavors.
After years of intense regulatory scrutiny, the FDA banned Juul’s vaping products in 2022. The ban was then temporarily suspended while watchdogs re-examined the decision.
In June 2024, two years after the original decision, the FDA lifted its ban on Juul Lab products. The watchdog placed the company back under scientific review. This means that the FDA will reevaluate Juul’s products under the most up-to-date case law to determine whether they should remain on the market.
There is no set timeline for this process. During the scientific review, Juul is still allowed to sell its delivery device and the 5% and 3% nicotine pods in tobacco and menthol flavors.
Juul representatives told Forbes they were happy with the decision. A spokesman said they believe a “full review of the science and evidence will demonstrate that our products meet the statutory standard of being appropriate for the protection of public health.”
Key Fact: Since 2019, company statistics show that the number of youths using Juul products has dropped by 95%. Statistics show that youth usage across the entire e-cigarette market has also plummeted.
Supreme Court Review on Flavored Pods
The Supreme Court will rule on whether the FDA can ban flavored smoking products after two e-cigarette companies launched a lawsuit.
The vaping companies – Triton Distribution and Vapetasia LLC – are in the middle of a long legal battle against the FDA to allow their flavored smoking liquids. Their controversial flavors include:
- Peachy Strawberry by Jimmy The Juice Man
- Iced Pineapple Express
- Killer Kustard Blueberry
As shown in the Juul documentary, many states have laws banning the sale of unauthorized vape flavors. The FDA has argued that any benefits gained from flavored pods helping people to quit smoking are greatly outweighed by the risk they create in encouraging teens to vape.
The e-cigarette companies appealed the FDA’s decision and started legal action. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the companies, saying that the FDA acted unfairly.
Now, the federal government has asked the Supreme Court to rule on the case. It is feared that allowing the flavors will cause another spike in teen vaping and result in another generation of people falling into nicotine addiction.
No timeline has been set on the case, but a final ruling is expected by June 2025.
The Health Impacts of Teen Vaping
It is widely acknowledged that vaping is moderately less harmful than smoking traditional cigarettes. However, they still pose health risks, and those risks are far greater for young people.
One of the most significant risks is addiction. Most e-cigarettes contain nicotine, which is highly addictive. Exposure to nicotine can result in lifelong habits with massive mental and physical implications.
Other effects of vaping on young people who are still developing include:
- Shortness of breath.
- Lung damage.
- Impaired brain development.
- Problems focusing and concentrating.
- Mood swings.
- Loss of impulse control.
- Trouble sleeping.
- Anxiety and depression.
In extreme cases, vaping might be deadly. Juul has faced wrongful death lawsuits linked to its vaping products.
Important E-Cigarette Reading
- Study Shows Vaping Devices Like Juul is Reversing Anti-Tobacco Efforts
- Study on Juul Makes the Case to Regulate E-Cigarette Marketing
- What’s Really in Juul E-Cigarettes?
- A New Study Suggests E-Cigs Linked to Lung Cancer
- Evidence Mounts About the Health Impact of Second-Hand Vaping
- Study Shows Vaping Can Cause Heart Damage Like Cigarettes
Youth Vaping Statistics
According to the National Youth Tobacco Survey in 2023, about 10% of all middle and high school students admitted to using any type of tobacco products. Of those tobacco users, 77% used e-cigarettes. That makes vaping by far the most common form of smoking among teens.
Stats reported by the CDC regarding youth smoking and vaping show:
- About 2.1 million students used e-cigarettes in the United States in 2023.
- That number includes 10% of all high schoolers and just under 5% of all middle schoolers.
- Of those students who have tried vaping, nearly 47% reported current e-cigarette use, and 9 in 10 used flavored e-cigarettes.
- Most young smokers (nearly 61%) use disposable e-cigarettes.
- The most popular brands are Juul, Elf Bar, Vuse, Mr. Fog, and Esco Bars.
- Just under 64% of high schoolers who vape want to quit.
Click here for more vaping statistics from the CDC and FDA.
Other E-Cigarette Dangers
The dangers commonly associated with smoking and vaping include lung damage, nicotine poisoning, and damage caused by exposure to chemicals and metals. However, vaping can carry additional risks linked to the delivery device.
- EVALI (E-cigarette or Vaping Associated Lung Injury): EVALI is a term for a specific type of lung disease that can be caused by vaping. Symptoms include coughing, shortness of breath, chest pain, abdominal pain, fever, chills, nausea, and vomiting. Symptoms worsen over 1-2 weeks, and 96% of cases require hospitalization.
- Burns: While manufacturers have been improving the design of vape delivery devices for years now, some still have teething issues. Vape pens heat a liquid to produce a vapor. However, that heating element can sometimes malfunction and cause significant burns.
- Battery explosions: Most vaping devices use lithium-ion batteries to power their electronic functions. These batteries are also used in countless other products, such as phones, tablets, and laptops. However, there have been many instances of lithium-ion battery fires and explosions, and they can be prone to combustion without warning.
Personal Injury Lawsuits Involving Vaping Products
A huge number of class action lawsuits have been filed against Juul Labs over the last few years over nicotine addiction and other injuries, as well as questionable marketing practices and deceiving customers.
Many of these lawsuits have been resolved through multi-million-dollar settlements.
As of July 2024, there have been more than 5,000 lawsuits against Juul combined into various litigation actions.
- In 2021, Juul settled a case with the state of North Carolina for $40 million. One year later, another $440 million was paid to a group of 33 states to settle claims that the company marketed its product to teens.
- In December 2022, a settlement was reached for the 5,000 multi-district litigation cases. While the amount was undisclosed, sources indicate it was about $1.2 billion.
- In 2023, a judge in California approved a $255 million settlement over a deceptive marketing claim.
- The city of Chicago received a 23.8 million settlement over marketing complaints in March 2023.
These are just a few examples. Many other areas have joined lawsuits against Juul at various points in recent years.
Bisnar Chase: Top-Rated Personal Injury Attorneys
This article is designed to provide an in-depth rundown of the Big Vape Netflix documentary and examine the current state of Juul and the vaping industry. It is for informational purposes, but our law firm also handles a wide range of personal injury cases across California.
Bisnar Chase is a top-rated and award-winning injury law firm based in Southern California. We have won countless cases across the state and handle product liability actions nationwide. Our firm has a 99% success rate, with more than $850 million won for our clients.
If you need an e-cigarette injury lawyer, or if you have suffered another type of physical injury due to the negligence of another person or party, Bisnar Chase can help. We believe in superior client representation with a personal touch, and we are here to help you.
Contact us now for a free consultation with no obligations. Call (800) 561-4887 or send us a message through our website. We look forward to hearing from you.
