AG Ferguson: JUUL must pay Washington $22.5 million over its unlawful advertising practices

JUUL vaping device

OLYMPIA — Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced that JUUL must pay $22.5 million to resolve Ferguson’s lawsuit against the e-cigarette company. 

The lawsuit asserts that JUUL violated the law when it designed and marketed its products to appeal to underage consumers and deceived consumers about the addictiveness of its product.

In addition to the payment, JUUL must stop its unlawful conduct and implement a slate of reforms, including:

• Stopping all its advertising that appeals to youth
• Stopping most social media promotion
• Accurately marketing the content and effects of the nicotine in its products
• Strict practices to confirm the age of consumers who purchase JUUL products — including a robust secret shopper program and online purchase age verification. JUUL is required to conduct no fewer than 25 secret shopper checks per month at Washington-based JUUL retailers for at least two years, and perform at least one check in every Washington county per year. The company is required to send a regular report to the Attorney General’s Office detailing the results of the secret shopper program every 90 days.

This is the strictest secret shopper program in the company’s history. The Attorney General’s Office believes this is likely amongst the strictest secret shopper programs implemented by vapor products sellers anywhere in the country.

These reforms are legally enforceable. If JUUL violates these terms, the Washington Attorney General’s Office can go directly to King County Superior Court to enforce them.

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