”Big Vape” with R.J. Cutler
October 19, 2023
Two young, idealistic, talented design students from Stanford set out to create a replacement for smoking tobacco, a vaporizing device that will save millions of lives. Instead, they end up building the perfect addiction machine, and, with their wildly effective marketing campaign, they hook a plethora of non-smokers, including teenagers.
RJ Cutler (“The War Room”, “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry”) speaks with Mike about his new 4-part documentary series on Netflix, “Big Vape”. In it, he traces the tragic arc of the vaping company Juul. Cutler’s vision allows him both to understand the humanistic goal of the company’s founders and employees, while showing how the incentives of a venture-backed company ultimately led them astray. And he makes a strong case that the story of Juul, of tech solutions leading to unintended consequences, is the story of our era, one especially relevant in a time when we are seeing what results from the powerfully addictive effects of social media.
