Documentary Style
TopicalBig Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul
How two Stanford students set out to disrupt tobacco and instead created a teen nicotine epidemic. Silicon Valley hubris, regulatory failure, and the unintended consequences of good intentions.
Year
2023
Type
series
Episodes
4
Language
English
Director
R.J. Cutler
Genres
Summary
Two Stanford students set out to create a better alternative to cigarettes. Their answer - Juul - became one of the fastest-growing consumer products in American history.
Based on TIME correspondent Jamie Ducharme's investigative book, this series traces Juul's journey from genuine public health mission to cautionary tale. The original goal was legitimate: help adult smokers quit. But Silicon Valley hubris and viral social media sent Juul into school bathrooms across America. Executives, public health officials, and former teen users present uncomfortable complexity: a product that helps some adults quit smoking while creating a new generation of nicotine addicts.
How good intentions, unchecked ambition, and regulatory failure combined to create a public health crisis.