FOR SMOKERS -JUUL- BY DESIGN

JUUL LABS, the company behind the insanely popular vaping device, has a message for the estimated 37.8 million adult smokers in the United States:

It really, really cares about them. And it wants them [and only them - got that, teens?] to try vaping instead.

''For Smokers. By DESIGN,'' blares the company's website.

A new $10 million TV ad campaign, called, ''Make The Switch,'' echoes the theme, featuring testimonials from ex-smokers, all comfortably above the legal smoking age, who have swapped their cigarettes for a  Juul.

This benevolent sounding mission - helping nicotine addicted adult smokers switch to something far less likely to kill them - is Juul's new pitch and the way it hopes to rehabilitate its image as one of  Silicone Valley's most problematic start-ups.

You can't fault Juul for trying. The company, which is valued at $38 billion, has been through the wringer lately, with regulators, public health advocates and concerned parents accusing it of  fueling an epidemic of  teenage nicotine addiction by marketing to young people with fruit-flavored pods- Colorful youth-filled ads and social-media campaigns.

It has been sued by users and lambasted by law-makers, and the United States Food and Drug Administration, which is investigating whether  Juul's marketing practices deliberately targeted underage users, conducted a surprise inspection of the company's headquarter's last year.

[In November, Juul announced it would shut down its  Instagram and  Facebook accounts, and stop selling most flavored pods in stores.]

Adding to the concern is that last month, Juul took a $12.8 billion investment from Altria, the tobacco giant behind Marlboro and other popular brands, in exchange for 35 percent of the company.

Now, after making billions of dollars and and joining forces with Big Tobacco, Juul is billing itself as a public health crusader.

The honor and serving of the latest operational research on Smoking, Substitutes and Health Crusades, continues The World Students Society thanks author and researcher Kevin Roose.