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The meteoric rise of Juul was followed by an equally dramatic fall from grace that turned out to be a very costly one for the vape company that found itself on the receiving end of a ton of lawsuits. That includes one filed by the state of Louisiana that led to a settlement that will trickle down into the NIL coffers at a number of schools—none of which will benefit more than LSU.
I assume the vast majority of people reading this are familiar with Juul, which emerged as the vaping vehicle of choice for nicotine aficionados looking to get their fix in the second half of the 2010s.
The company was raking in billions of dollars a year on the back of its slim e-cigs and flavored pods, but the explosion of popularity it experienced also sparked a tsunami of scrutiny with a particular emphasis on the marketing practices many critics argued played a major role in fueling an underage vaping epidemic.
A number of states took Juul to court over those allegations, including Louisiana, which filed a lawsuit that asserted the company had implicitly targeted minors with its ads and had failed to adequately communicate the levels of nicotine contained in its pods.
In 2022, Juul agreed to fork over $10 million to settle the case in an agreement that dictated the funds would be primarily allocated to support initiatives designed to dissuade Louisiana residents under the age of 21 from vaping.
According to the Louisiana Illuminator, Attorney General Liz Murrill is harnessing a fairly unique approach when it comes to tackling that push, as the outlet examined public records that show her office has pledged $225,000 to hand out NIL deals to athletes at LSU who will be paid to assist with the anti-vaping campaign.
A grand total of $281,000 has been set aside for NIL deals at schools across Louisiana, and players at Louisiana-Monroe, Grambling, Northwestern, Southeastern, and McNeese will also be eligible to get a piece of the pie.
What a world.