Photo by Allie Rothman

Montgomery County schools are plastering ads like these in school bathrooms to persuade students to put down the Juuls.

Effective: 

By: Allie Rothman

We’ve all seen the ads on the story page of Snapchat or when scrolling through Instagram, and read headlines such as “FDA Cracks Down on Juul” and “Is Your Juul Rewiring Your Brain?”. Pages and pages of information and drilling medical facts into our brains, is certainly driving kids away from vaping devices.

As someone who’s very involved in social media, I’ve got to say, some of the ads are pretty scary. I’ll be scrolling through Instagram feed and stumble upon clips from corporations such as The Real Cost, adding detailed graphics of the chemicals released in your body with every breath from a vape. Images of these computer designed cells make horrible noises and headlines reading “The Vape Epidemic is Spreading,” are convincing some teens that it’s time to put the Juuls down. The imagery some of these anti-vape ads create serve as a pretty powerful tool.

With corporations like Mashable and The Real Cost shedding light upon this ‘epidemic’ on teen-populated platforms, the extent of people who actively vape is bound to decrease.

Not only is vape culture being invaded over social media, but also within school walls. Fliers stating toxicology facts and slogans are being posted throughout school bathrooms and hallways. Although these fliers don’t consist of chilling graphics, they do state scientifically proven biological facts regarding the chemicals which subside in vapes. In empathizing these biological effects, how could someone pick up a Juul after reading something like that?

Ineffective:

By: Austin Mucchetti

Anti-juul ads are ineffective. For the amount of money being spent on stopping the spread of this epidemic, little change is actually taking place. The FDA’s “Real Cost” campaign cost $60 million, but from what I’ve seen, not many teens actually give up juuling after watching it. The ads are too “movie like” which makes most people think the consequences are unrealistic. I also still see kids with juuls and other devices in school all the time, and though the ads obviously bring up the discussion of their safety, which is needed and does help, it shows that most teens just don’t understand the severity of this issue and what they are putting in their bodies. Another interesting point is that in the anti-Juul advertisements that Juul Labs themselves put out, it is always stated that “Juul is designed to be an alternative for adult cigarette smokers.” This is counteractive because although Juul might be saying this with good intent, teens will most likely want to seem older and try something that is advertised for adults.  

Underage kids have gotten hold of vaping devices ever since the “fad” began, and regardless of how many posters and videos they watch, they will continue to find under-the-table methods of getting their hands on them.