3 ms·

> It's not a rare or unheard of thing for an industry to attack solutions that are significantly better than their own (very profitable) solution See Juul, att

> It's not a rare or unheard of thing for an industry to attack solutions that are significantly better than their own (very profitable) solution See Juul, attacked by both the smoking industry and anti-smoking lobby. Ecigs don’t have brand loyalty like “Marlboro”—and cigarettes cost only 6 cents a pack to manufacture. So, buy Juul, kill it, preserve the massive profit flow.

mandmandam 4y ago
Yep. That's a pretty clear example, and it sucks to see people falling for it. Vaping is immediately and obviously far less bad than smoking, but they can't say that. The fear-porn around the issue is wild, and I'm certain legislators and media types are getting brown envelopes to demonize vaping. Cannabis / hemp would be another. Alcohol giants, cotton, painkillers, and many more have a lot to lose to an alternative that's superior in many ways. Fossil fuel companies spend huge amounts putting doubt into people's mind about nuclear and renewables, lobbying for themselves, systematically buying academics and news stories. With the above examples, there are people dying thanks to the PR FUD. Microsoft did similar stuff, buying and squashing competitors by any means necessary. Even the DoJ had to step in when they tried to own the internet. Some people think MS Office is still around because it's better than the competitors, lol. Banks lobby to make business as awkward as possible for credit unions. Bitcoin maxis smear superior tech with the most laughable arguments. Etc.
eurasiantiger 4y ago
Juul was/is a tobacco industry scam to make vaping more accessible and more likely to lead to tobacco addiction. Juul started with all kinds of flavors, but then they were banned and only tobacco extract flavors were allowed. Those extracts are more than flavor. They contain the same psychoactives which make tobacco smoking so addictive compared to vaping freebase nicotine — which Juul is not because it is an extract of tobacco nicotine salts to begin with.
- samatman 4y ago
  This is hmm. Poorly informed. I use a Juul most of the time to vape. To keep myself in cartridges, I do have to buy the Juul ones, so I get a cart full of the magic Juul juice to keep me company. Then I refill it a bunch of times with third-party nicotine salts which taste better. It's the same thing basically. Juul popularized using salts at high concentration with less vapor. That's about it. The rest is good product design and a fad.

mandmandam 4y ago

Yep. That's a pretty clear example, and it sucks to see people falling for it. Vaping is immediately and obviously far less bad than smoking, but they can't say that. The fear-porn around the issue is wild, and I'm certain legislators and media types are getting brown envelopes to demonize vaping. Cannabis / hemp would be another. Alcohol giants, cotton, painkillers, and many more have a lot to lose to an alternative that's superior in many ways. Fossil fuel companies spend huge amounts putting doubt into people's mind about nuclear and renewables, lobbying for themselves, systematically buying academics and news stories. With the above examples, there are people dying thanks to the PR FUD. Microsoft did similar stuff, buying and squashing competitors by any means necessary. Even the DoJ had to step in when they tried to own the internet. Some people think MS Office is still around because it's better than the competitors, lol. Banks lobby to make business as awkward as possible for credit unions. Bitcoin maxis smear superior tech with the most laughable arguments. Etc.

eurasiantiger 4y ago

Juul was/is a tobacco industry scam to make vaping more accessible and more likely to lead to tobacco addiction. Juul started with all kinds of flavors, but then they were banned and only tobacco extract flavors were allowed. Those extracts are more than flavor. They contain the same psychoactives which make tobacco smoking so addictive compared to vaping freebase nicotine — which Juul is not because it is an extract of tobacco nicotine salts to begin with.

samatman 4y ago
This is hmm. Poorly informed. I use a Juul most of the time to vape. To keep myself in cartridges, I do have to buy the Juul ones, so I get a cart full of the magic Juul juice to keep me company. Then I refill it a bunch of times with third-party nicotine salts which taste better. It's the same thing basically. Juul popularized using salts at high concentration with less vapor. That's about it. The rest is good product design and a fad.