The best films and TV
There has been an explosion in the number of documentaries and films about business and finance recently – not to mention the hit drama series Succession (see right). The Netflix series Big Vape: The Rise And Fall Of Juul was one of the most memorable. Over the four hours of running time, it tells the story of how a startup designed to wean people of cigarettes, by providing a safer alternative that would satisfy users’ cravings, soared to a multibillion-dollar valuation before imploding over concerns that it was causing a generation of teenagers to become addicted to its product.
The documentary makers took the trouble to speak to people from all sides of the argument, including those who say that, by getting many smokers to quit cigarettes, Juul was a force for good. The overall thrust of the series is that Juul doomed itself the moment it took the easy option in pursuit of short-term gain by targeting young people, ignoring repeated warnings about the attractiveness of its flavoured pods to children and accepting money from is an entertaining and well-produced mini-series that raises important questions about business ethics and public-health policy.
