JUUL Sales Recover Within Weeks of Self-Ban on Vaping Flavors

Researchers from the American Cancer Society found that sales by e-cigarette maker JUUL bounced back from a dip within weeks after it removed most of its flavored products from stores. In fact, sales went on to rise even higher than they were before that change was made, as buyers switched to menthol, mint, or tobacco flavors that were still in stores.

In November 2018, JUUL voluntarily removed most of its flavored products except mint/menthol and tobacco flavors from stores (but not its website). The company was under pressure from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to address a sharp rise in vaping among young people, among whom JUUL is the overwhelming favorite e-cigarette. According to the FDA, most young people say flavors are the main reason they vape.

The study, published online April 16, 2020 in the American Journal of Public Health, tracked sales data of e-cigarette flavors in convenience, food, and drug stores from January 2015 through October 2019, in part to see what effect the product ban had on sales. The researchers used the Nielsen Company’s Scantrack data to look at trends for 5 categories of flavors: fruit, menthol/mint, sweet, tobacco, and “other.”

Tracking sales over time

• JUUL sales grew from 2017 to 2018, during which the use of e-cigarettes with fruit flavors rose from 12.9% of sales in January 2017 to 33.3% in October 2018.
• During the same time, tobacco flavored e-cigarettes dropped from 39.7% of sales to 16.6%.
• Once JUUL took its fruit flavors out of stores in November 2018, sales of fruit-flavored e-cigarette products dropped to 9.1% by April 2019.
• During this same time, menthol/mint flavors rose from 33% of sales to 62.5% and tobacco flavors rose from 16.6% to 22.3%.
• Within 12 weeks of the fruit and sweet flavor ban, sales of JUUL vaping products hit a new high, with mint/menthol flavors leading the way.
• By September 2019, sales of fruit flavors had risen again to 15.9% of e-cigarette sales, driven by increased sales from other e-cigarette companies (including NJOY, blu, VUSE, Logic, and others).

Self-regulation didn’t work

The researchers say their study shows that relying on e-cigarette companies to regulate themselves doesn’t work, because buyers will switch to other flavors or other brands.

Alex Liber, MSPH, senior scientist with the Economic & Health Policy Research program at the American Cancer Society, said, “Companies’ attempts to self-impose their own restrictions are unlikely to improve public health. JUUL’s withdrawal of fruit-flavored products was quickly offset by a combination of increased fruit-flavored sales by JUUL’s competitors and increased sales of other flavors – notably, mint/menthol – by JUUL.”

The researchers say consistent, government-set standards may be more successful at lowering the number of young people who are vaping because all companies would have to meet them.

“Our study shows when exceptions to regulatory policies are made, the market will fill the void,” said Liber. “The growth of fruit-flavored sales experienced by NJOY once JUUL stopped selling mango-flavored e-cigarettes is a striking indication of that happening. If governments exempt some e-cigarettes from a flavor regulation and not others – for example if governments exempt disposable or “open system” e-cigarettes from prohibitions on selling flavored products – we might expect consumer demand for flavored products to migrate to those types of products.”