Exec Says Joe Camel Aimed At Adults - LA Times

Yeah, right. If you can't trust a tobacco executive, who can you trust?

"A top R.J. Reynolds Tobacco executive Thursday defended the company's advertising policies, testifying during the U.S. racketeering trial against cigarette makers that R.J. Reynolds did not aim its popular Camel brand products at children or teenagers.

Lynn Beasley, president and chief operating officer for the main unit of Reynolds American Inc., helped launch Joe Camel, the cartoon figure known for his cool persona and dark sunglasses that later drew the ire of regulators.

She said the company marketed only to adult smokers. "The policy since I've been at the company is that we do not want youth to smoke," testified Beasley, who joined R.J. Reynolds in 1982 as a marketing assistant.

The Joe Camel character was used to advertise Camel cigarettes during the late 1980s and most of the 1990s."

EDIT

http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-smoke1apr01,1,6275729.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business

Who'da thunk it.

Jay

nearly started smoking because I thought using a product endorsed by an animated camel would raise my cool quotient.



:sarcasm:

positive way to Joe Camel.

So who can *I* blame for ME starting to smoke?
Joe Camel was a smokescreen.
Oh, I made a Punny! "Smokescreen"! Hah-Hah-Hah (cough! cough! hack-hack!)

Been 2 years since my last cigarette.

Shoulda been a dead giveaway....

:eyes:

Meet Joe Chemo, a camel who wishes he'd never smoked cigarettes. Joe is having trouble feeling COOL these days, now that he's lost most of his hair. Worst of all, Joe just realized that he's been MaNiPuLaTeD all his life by tobacco companies. Poor guy -- his tobacco IQ never was very high.

<•> During the first three years of Joe Camel advertisements, Camel's share of the under-18 cigarette market jumped from 0.5% to 32.8%, representing a $470 million increase in annual sales for RJR Nabisco.

DiFranza, J. R., Richards, J. W., Jr., Paulman, P. M., Wolf-Gillespie, N., Fletcher, C., Jaffe, R. D., & Murray, D. (1991). RJR Nabisco's cartoon camel promotes Camel cigarettes to children. JAMA, 266, 3149-3153.


<•> More than 90% of six-year-olds match Joe Camel with a picture of a cigarette, making him as well-known as Mickey Mouse (by comparison, only 67% of adults recognize Joe Camel).

Fischer, P. M., Schwartz, M. P., Richards, J. W., Goldstein, A. O., & Rojas, T. H. (1991). Brand logo recognition by children aged 3 to 6 years: Mickey Mouse and Old Joe the Camel. JAMA, 3145-3148.


<•> On May 28, 1997, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission charged that the Joe Camel advertising campaign violated federal fair trade practice laws by promoting a lethal and addictive product to children and adolescents under the age of 18.

Broder, J. M. (May 29, 1997). F.T.C. charges "Joe Camel" ad illegally takes aim at minors. New York Times, pp. A1, B10.


<•> On July 10, 1997, RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company announced that its 23-year-old Joe Camel advertising campaign would be discontinued.

Details courtesy Joe Chemo.

and eye level for two to ten year old children. I've seen them personally all over the state in stores. Talk about Corporate immorality!

Also, In WA, OR and NV, I see constantly adults smoking in the car with their children inside. EVERYWHERE! Talk about uneducated and/or moraless people!

Simpsons is the longest running sitcom and it is a cartoon. It has been so successful there have been another half dozen or so created since they came to be. Especially for Bush* republicans I believe this is true. Cartoons are their Shakespeare