Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul

It's a classic capitalism tale where original founders with good intentions start a company with the hope of changing the world for good but then money hungry CEOs with deep pockets take over and prioritise quick marketing at the expense of consumers.

I'll admit that maybe the reason I didn't like this documentary could be because I'm not the target audience but I'm sure it didn't need to be 4 episodes long and a 90 minute doc would've been much more engaging. I think it's an important narrative to tell but the documentary didn't inform me of anything new or give me any new perspectives so I felt a bit let down on that front.

They repeated so much information especially in the final 2 episodes that, for me, it started to feel too repetitive and simple. By the 4th episode it felt dragged out with minutes of interview clips just repeating what the audience already knows.

I also couldn't help but feel that by the end of the final episode, I had just spent about 2 hours watching a really longer advert for Juul.

If you are wondering why vaping became so popular, you should check out this documentary series. The answer to that question is a combination of an altruistic mission to try to get people to stop smoking and one of the biggest social experiments of a generation. Honestly, probably multiple generations. The style of the documentary is a bit questionable, there are gratuitous scenes of animation interspliced with talking head interviews and one lady who seems to be far too enthusiastic about many of her talking points, include teenage deaths and the ultimate futility of life as a member of gen Z. I think its message is an important one. I personally Wonder what the results of this experiment will be in 20, 30 or 50 years will we see an entire generation of people wiped out by cancer? Or will consuming nicotine and high amounts have no adverse effects? These are important questions, it seems insane to consider that in the rush for technological innovation no one at that company asked themselves that question.

I am vape addict from 4 year but in 2023 from 1 jan i decided i want to quite a vape. Why? Because i am stressful all the day i want to vape every second vape just take over my life. I feel broke. I just want to quite it and discuss with my friends. My one close friend recommend a book called 'Dr Robert Turner 7 baby steps to quite vaping' i doesn't believe that a book can change my habit. But i was wrong this book is not like other ones its a story of alex (anyone can releate to that character who is vape addict)how he follow Dr. Robert turner 7 baby steps formula and became vape free. Its just a mindblowing story and step to guide you how you can also quite it. I also like the quote of the book (I can, I will)

I am not promoting any book i just want to help the people.

Who is like me and quite the vape.

The documentary is very good, but the problem is because JUUL was on top of the mountain during the whole vape epidemic, they took all the bad press. Kids were buying pods off market with a bunch of crap in it but because JUUL was the name brand that they took all the bad press. It wasn't totally all their fault. The documentary is pretty good and I know for sure what was going on because I was in the middle of it as I was working in talent acquisition as a JUUL Partner during this time. I have talked to some of the people in the interviews and while they did grow substantially and they did come and market too younger kids at the end they are responsible for the choices not JUUL.

Gave this a go primarily because it's exhausting searching for something new. This story is actually pretty interesting and if they dug more into unraveling the actual business it would be great. But they spent a crazy amount of time with these influencers and it distracted greatly from the problems this company found itself facing. I mean.. they have Taylor Lorenz in this documentary, why?? It's all of these unnecessary interviews and frivolous input from these outside characters that drag this storyline on too long. I guess I was more looking for an examination of the failures of the business and this would be business case study with some backstory on the founders and the current legal problems. It isn't awful by any means, this doc just incorporates too many erroneous characters that don't really provide any value to the story.