The Joe Camel Ad Campaign Essay Example

every guy wants to be. Oh yeah, and he is smoking a Camel cigarette.

Obviously this is ploy to target the youth. The ad implies if you smoke this cigarette, you can be this cool. It is well known that in today’s world many children are concerned with how they are viewed upon by there peers and will give in to peer pressure in an attempt to be cool. R.

J. Reynolds realizes this and is attempting to create a fad among children and young adults.Once this fad is created children will become vulnerable as they will get the mindset “well all the cool people are smoking Camels if I start smoking I can be just as cool as them and Joe Camel. ” It is important to remember that cigarettes are one of very few products that if used exactly as intended by the manufacturer will eventually kill you.

In addition cigarettes are known to be a highly addictive product and the majority of smokers buy the same brand of cigarettes each time they purchase cigarettes.In 1991, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study showing that more children 5 and 6 years old could recognize Joe Camel than could recognize Mickey Mouse or Fred Flintstone, and alleged that the "Joe Camel" campaign was supposedly targeting children—despite R. J. Reynolds' contention that the campaign had been researched only among adults and was directed only at the smokers of other brands. At that time it was estimated that over 30% of all cigarettes sold in the U. S.

were Marlboros. Subsequently, the American Medical Association asked R. J. Reynolds Nabisco to pull the

campaign.R.

J. Reynolds refused, and the Joe Camel Campaign continued. In 1991, Janet Mangini, a San Francisco-based attorney, brought a suit against R. J. Reynolds, challenging the company for targeting minors with its "Joe Camel" advertising campaign.

In her complaint, Mangini alleged that teenage smokers accounted for $476 million of Camel cigarette sales in 1992. When the Joe Camel advertisements started in 1988, that figure was only at $6 million, "implicitly suggesting such advertisements have harmed a great many teenagers by luring them into extended use of and addiction to tobacco products. "