New TikTok challenge kicks off national truth® campaign underscoring young people’s desire to ditch JUUL and quit vaping

On the heels of a viral social media trend, truth^®is inspiring young vapers to get creative with “Ready to Ditch JUUL” challenges and an innovative resource to quit

The percentage of U.S. high school students who use tobacco products of any kind is at its highest in 19 years. This is driven by the youth e-cigarette epidemic, with more than a quarter of high schoolers — 27.5% — now vaping, with 21% doing so on a daily basis. However, more young people are taking to social media to express their desire to stop JUULing and quit vaping entirely. In fact, according to new data from Truth Initiative^®, nearly 50% of 15-24-year-old current e-cigarette users say quitting e-cigarettes is a New Year’s resolution.

Building on this momentum, truth, the highly effective youth tobacco prevention campaign from Truth Initiative^®, is launching its latest youth e-cigarette education campaign, “Ready to Ditch JUUL.” The national campaign features a series of videos highlighting young people ditching their JUULs in creative ways and drives those looking to quit e-cigarettes to the highly successful quit vaping program This is Quitting. With more than 80,000 young people enrolled to-date, This is Quitting is a first-of-its-kind, free and anonymous, text-based, quit vaping program from truth. The program was first introduced in January 2019. Preliminary data about the program published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research following the launch show after just two weeks of using This is Quitting, more than half — 60.8% — reported that they had reduced or stopped using e-cigarettes. Teens and young adults can text “DITCHJUUL” to 88709 and get immediate help now. The creative will air across broadcast, digital and social networks.

The “Ready to Ditch JUUL” national campaign kicked off with a TikTok challenge, which underscores the cultural movement across social media platforms where young people are ditching their JUULs in unique and imaginative ways. truth is partnering with TikTok influencers, including Nick Uhas, Tisha Alyn and Sam Grubbs, inviting TikTok users to creatively ditch their JUULs and quit. The first challenge, “Ice Water Trick Shot,” launched on TikTok on January 6, invites users to do their best, elaborate trick shot to “Ditch Their JUUL” by throwing it into a cup of ice water.

"The latest data show more young people than ever are vaping, a harsh reality that becomes even more apparent through social media. This hits me close to home because this is the environment that my two younger brothers face, and I want to help change that,” said TikTok influencer Tisha Alyn. "That's why I'm very excited to partner with truth and use my platform to inspire kids to kick their JUULs to the curb and quit for good.”

This latest effort from truth builds upon its previous campaign “Tested on Humans,” which highlighted how little is known about the long-term health effects of e-cigarettes that are still unregulated. Prior, many teens didn’t know the potential risks of e-cigarettes and what they were getting themselves into when they first started using JUUL. In fact, a majority of current youth and young adult JUUL users — 63% — did not know that the product always contains nicotine.

For more information on This is Quitting, please visit truthinitiative.org/thisisquitting.