(CNN)Leading e-cigarette company Juul Labs has tried to distance itself from a vast social media presence that experts say drives its popularity among teens. But a CNN investigation sheds new light on how the company was encouraging -- and at times paying for -- social media users to promote its nicotine-filled product to thousands of their followers.
One of these users was Brooklyn-based Christina Zayas, 36, who has made a full-time career out of being a social media "influencer" since 2015: reviewing products, posing for photos and injecting her own brand of style and whimsy into her blog posts.
"Brands were eventually saying, 'We have a budget. Would you be interested in doing this for money?' " Zayas told CNN.
In September 2017, she was invited to a campaign featuring Juul. The email, which she shared with CNN, came from an influencer marketing firm called Lumanu, with which she'd worked on other social media campaigns. A representative asked her to try Juul's "premium e-cigarette and share your experience on your blog," saying it was an opportunity to work together "over several months."
"They liked my edgy style and that I appealed to the younger market," Zayas said.
Zayas, who had been an occasional cigarette smoker, hadn't had a good experience with e-cigarettes in the past but found the Juul easier to use, and she liked the flavors. She had tried it a week before Lumanu contacted her -- coincidentally, she said.
Health experts have slammed the company's marketing tactics as following in the footsteps of Big Tobacco, which aimed advertising at young people in an effort to gain lifelong customers. Now, in the era of social media and its heavy teen presence, those same experts worry that e-cigarettes could put kids' developing brains at risk, get them hooked on nicotine early in life and be a gateway to smoking and other drugs.
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