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EJuiceMonkeys is an electronic cigarette and e-cig vaporizing liquid (or e-juice) website. Recently some 40 state and territory attorneys general sent a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration demanding (in their words, urging) that it meet an October 31st deadline the FDA had set for proposing sweeping e-cig regulations. Among other issues the letter listed the use of cartoons and images in ads and on websites to entice kids into using their products.

Only two companies were named as culprits of this (and a far stretch was made to implicate a third) — Magic Puff City E-Cigarettes and eJuiceMonkeys.com. Both use “cartoon monkeys to sell e-cigarettes” according to the letter. The letter implies that this is in flagrant disregard of tobacco advertising standards and done to attract minors to the products.

That letter was sent on September 24th. Now it seems at least one of the two companies is subduing its logo across most of its website to quietly protest the implication and avoid getting drawn into anymore unnecessary conflict.

There’s more about the letter to the FDA here.

A spokesperson with eJuiceMonkeys confirmed that the character blackout is connected to the letter to the FDA. According to the company, a 4-page letter is in the works to respond to the Attorneys General letter and many of the media outlets that covered it (particularly those that took the spin even further). The company will actually be in Washington meeting with representatives in a month to discuss the issue further.

E-cig advocates have already said that the letter is full of misinformation and slanted arguments. It even created quite an uproar when some realized that the vast majority of attorneys general that had signed the letter had yet to participate in any effort to regulate electronic cigarettes in their home states.

Admittedly, yes, the logo for EJuiceMonkeys is a cartoon monkey. Does it appeal to kids? Quite possibly. Does it show up in places where kids can regularly see it and be enticed by it? Pretty much, no. Does it appeal to only kids and not at all to adults? Almost certainly not.

Family and anti-smoking groups are claiming that stuff like this is identical to tobacco’s advertising heyday of child targeted ads. Can anyone really say that the logo above is in line with the ad to the left?

What are your thoughts? Is the eJuiceMonkey bananas?