Joe Camel, also known as Old Joe, was an advertising mascot used by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR) for their cigarette brand Camel. Created in 1974 for a French advertising campaign, the character was redesigned for the American market in 1988 and appeared in magazine advertisements. The Joe Camel advertising campaigns utilized a masculine camel to create an association between the brand’s cigarettes and the high life. Before Joe’s existence, an estimated 3 of teenage smokers preferred Camel above other cigarette brands.
In 1988, RJR introduced the Joe Camel cartoon character to invigorate sagging U.S. sales of its flagship brand. The most successful iteration of this was Joe Camel, the advertising spokes-character for Camel cigarettes from 1987 to July 1997. When the character was banned as a result of lawsuits accusing RJR of using Joe Camel to market smoking to children, the campaign was retired and replaced with a more adult campaign.
Attempts by the commission to have Joe Camel deemed an unfair advertising practice were rejected in 1994. Reynolds initiated the now infamous Old Joe Camel campaign for the Camel brand in 1988, which ran continuously for 9 years until 1997. The company announced that it is retiring Joe Camel, ending one of the cigarette industry’s most criticized advertising campaigns. In 1994, Corporate Accountability International organized the “Send Joe Camel Packing” campaign, exposing and challenging the use of Joe Camel in advertising. A 1991 study by the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that a Camel cigarette ad campaign featuring the mascot Joe Camel was far more effective than other advertising campaigns.
📹 The Rise and Fall of Joe Camel, The Cartoon Who Encouraged Kids to Smoke
The rise and fall of the Joe Camel cartoon is a lesson in disastrous advertising. As a marketing ploy, Joe was allegedly created to …
Why is it called Old Joe?
The edifice known as the Chamberlain Memorial Tower was constructed without the use of scaffolding, and it is presumed that it was named in honor of Joseph Chamberlain, who suffered a stroke in 1906. Subsequently, the tower was renamed “Joe” in his honor. Further work was required to address unpointed external brickwork and the impact of precipitation, with workmen situated in suspended cages. The tower was named in honor of Chamberlain, who was unable to be as closely involved.
Who is the mascot of Camel cigarettes cartoon?
Nine out of 10 adult smokers start smoking by age 18. In 1973, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company aimed to reach the youth market in the US. After 15 years of limited success with traditional advertising, they introduced Joe Camel, a hip cartoon character who became the face of the Camel cigarette brand from 1988 to 1997. This campaign influenced children’s perception of deadly tobacco products, leading to lawsuits and judgments against the company. New laws were introduced to reduce promotion of cigarettes that might appeal to children.
What is the lawsuit against Camel cigarettes?
Cynthia Robinson, the widow of a man who died from lung cancer in 1996, has been awarded $23. 6 billion by RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, the country’s second-largest cigarette manufacturer. The $23. 6 billion settlement is one of the largest in the US. The plaintiff, Robinson, claimed that RJ Reynolds failed to inform consumers about the increased risk of lung cancer associated with smoking tobacco. She also claimed that RJ Reynolds’ negligence led to her husband’s addiction, ultimately leading to his death.
The verdict is considered excessive and impermissible under state and constitutional law. RJ Reynolds has already appealed the ruling, calling it “grossly excessive and impermissible under state and constitutional law”. These cases have become more common in Florida, where the state’s high court ruled that all a plaintiff needs to prove is addiction and smoking caused the illness, usually cancer. Robinson’s award is the largest resulting from a Florida class action suit.
When did they get rid of Joe Camel?
In 1997, RJR officially ended the Joe Camel campaign, which was a temporary measure while federal litigation was in progress. The move came just weeks after the FTC complaint in May and shortly after RJR and other tobacco companies agreed to pay a $368. 5 billion settlement to states seeking to recover costs due to tobacco-related illnesses. The tobacco industry and 40 state attorney generals had just settled on a ban on the use of cartoon figures in cigarette ads, though the settlement had yet to be ratified by Congress or seen support from President Clinton.
Joe Camel was phased out of point-of-purchase advertising, followed soon by billboards and print ads. The campaign closure increased interest in Joe Camel memorabilia. In September, RJR agreed to pay $10 million to San Francisco and other California cities and counties who intervened in the Mangini litigation, primarily to fund anti-smoking efforts targeted at youth.
The Joe Camel campaign has been suspected of inspiring similar ad campaigns, such as the revival of Brown and Williamson’s penguin mascot, Willie, for their Kool cigarette brand in 1991. Anti-smoking groups criticized the test campaign, Anheuser-Busch in 2004 for their “Bud-weis-er” frogs, and groups fighting childhood obesity criticized Ronald McDonald and other characters for promoting unhealthy foods. Litigation proceedings used the precedence of the Joe Camel to further their case.
Which brand cigarettes no longer available?
The directory has removed several cigar brands from its listings, including Carnival, Korea Tobacco and Ginseng (KT and G), Dave’s, Philip Morris USA INC, Export, Japan Tobacco International U. S. A. (JTI), and Lark.
What was the Camel cigarettes scandal?
Cigarette advertising, while employing various tricks, often reveals the hidden tricks of the manufacturers. This led to the FTC charging most popular cigarette makers with cease-and-desist orders for false and misleading advertising, including R. J. Reynolds. By 1942, the FTC cited Camel’s claims as “inaccurate, false, and misleading”, including claims that smoking Camels aids digestion, fortifies good health, and restores body energy.
They also claimed that Camels help racing car drivers win races and golf champions, protect against nerve strain, and use only the best tobaccos. The FTC labeled the false claim as containing “no tricks”, making the case interesting as it highlights the FTC’s stance on cigarette advertising.
When was the last Camel cigarette commercial?
R. J. Reynolds initiated the Old Joe Camel campaign in 1988 to increase their market share of young smokers. The campaign, which ran for 9 years until 1997, featured a cool dromedary cartoon character and faced criticism for influencing children to smoke. The first Joe Camel ad in the United States was released to celebrate Camel’s 75th birthday and was based on a French advertisement for Camel filters from 1974.
Studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) confirmed that Joe Camel is attractive to children, with a 1991 article revealing that Old Joe Camel advertisements are more successful at marketing Camel cigarettes to children than to adults. Additionally, 91. 3 of 6-year-old children correctly matched Old Joe with a picture of a cigarette, nearly the same number as Mickey Mouse with the Disney Channel logo.
What Camel cigarettes were discontinued?
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an order to the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, requiring the cessation of sales of four specific products. The products in question are the Camel Bold Crush, Vantage Tech 13, and the regular and menthol versions of Pall Mall Deep Set Recessed Filter cigarettes. The agency suspended the sale of the products in question because R. J. Reynolds was unable to demonstrate that they posed a lesser risk to public health than their predecessors. This is a strategy that has previously been employed by smaller companies.
What is the old Joe mascot?
Joe Camel, also known as Old Joe, was the advertising mascot for Camel cigarettes from 1987 to 1997. Born in Europe, the caricatured camel was created in 1974 by British artist Nicholas Price for a French advertising campaign. The inspiration for the cartoon came from the camel, which has appeared on all Camel packages since the brand’s initial appearance in 1913. The U. S. marketing team of R. J. Reynolds re-discovered Joe in the late 1980s to promote the brand’s 75th anniversary.
What year did cigarette commercials stop?
In 1970, Congress passed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, banning advertising of cigarettes on television and radio. President Nixon signed it into law in April 1970. After the ban, most cigarette advertising took place in magazines, newspapers, and billboards. Smokeless tobacco ads remained on the air until a ban took effect in 1986. Further restrictions were introduced under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. Since 1984, cigarette companies have been required to place Surgeon General’s warnings on all cigarette packs and advertisements due to the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act.
What is the Cowboy Joe mascot?
Cowboy Joe, a tradition in Wyoming since 1950, has been a part of the university’s mascot since its inception. The pony, donated by the Farthing Family of Cheyenne, represents the university in parades, appears in Tailgate Park, and leads the pre-game Cowboy Walk. McKinley Muhlbauer, a senior majoring in Agricultural Communications and Agriculture Business, has been a Cowboy Joe handler since April 2022. Kali, a first-year law student with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting, aspires to specialize in tax law and forensic and fraud accounting.
Alexa Rigsby, a Psychology graduate from Cambridge, Minnesota, is a dedicated member of the UW Ranch Horse Versatility Team and plans to pursue a graduate certificate program in Elementary Education. She enjoys spending time with her horses, hiking, and participating in various crafting activities. All three handlers are dedicated to the university’s mascot and its traditions.
📹 THE HISTORY OF JOE CAMEL’S COMMERCIAL ILLUSTRATIONS
Invented in 1974 by British artist Nicholas Price and redesigned in 1988 by designer Mike Salisbury, Joe Camel was the …
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My mom had a friend who worked for Camel Cigarettes and he gave her all the Camel Bucks stuff he got for free from his job. We still have the beach towels, lighters in the shape of cigarette packs, and the Joe Camel head coffee cups. As a little kid I never thought Joe Camel was part of a cigarette brand, I always thought it was some adult cartoon I wasn’t allowed to watch and my mom got to collect the merchandise like I collected Barney and Barbie merch. Never realized until I was a teenager that Joe Camel was created by a cigarette brand…I was one oblivious kid.
I was already a smoker in my early 20s, and these campaigns did convince me to switch to Camel Lights and they were actually good cigs. It appears to have been an incredibly successful ad campaign in retrospect. But for me, it was just the ads and Camel Bucks. One thing that was left out of this post is there were experts also complaining that it was that they were selling underage sex because the character’s depiction was very ‘penis-like’. True. At the time, I found all the outcry silly. You can’t force kids to smoke. Kids like I was, have always been drawn to that dangerous habit. Sure, during that time more were starting with Camels instead of Marlboro reds like I did in my teens, but that was just great marketing, plain and simple. Isn’t that what America all about? (sarcasm) I haven’t smoked actual cigs for 10 yrs thanks to something else people complain about. Vaping. If you don’t know, you don’t know, but I can say for a fact switching to vaping almost certainly saved my life. My morning ritual before then was to wake up sick and cough up God knows what into the sink before work where we would hotbox cigs in the most difficult of weather because workplace restrictions got tighter and tighter. I never want anyone to pick up this terrible habit and a bunch of ya’ll might call me an idiot, weak, etc., etc. But was/is a different time, and knowing is half the battle! GI Joe!
Suggestion: Another cigarette ad campaign that targeted a specific demographic. The Virginia Slims “You’ve come a long way, baby!” ads that targeted female smokers. The gist of it was, part of being a liberated women included having the right to smoked without being judged, or restricted by a patriarchal society.
Another weird ad campaign was when McDonald’s tried to appeal more to young adults. There was one TV ad where Ronald McDonald is shown partying and dancing in a night club. Ronald was really getting his groove on. I guess he was tired of hanging out with crazy cartoony puppet characters and talking puppet menu items.
I remember as a kid we would go on walks with my dad to find Marlboro packs to get the points off of them. It was a lot of fun and we got some cool stuff for it. My dad is not a smoker, nor is my sister or I. In fact, I never even tried. Either my dad was really good at telling us how bad it is or their promotional tactic did not work on us.
I had just about everything I could get my hands on in the Camel cash book that was released at one time. Of course I couldn’t get the outdoor ultimate patio set with hot tub and grill for 200,000 camel cash but all of the lighters, jackets, shirts, ash trays etc. I had just about every person I knew that smoked giving me their camel cash. I was only 13 at the time and it was easy to just lie about your age on the mail in ordering form. At one time you could even order cigs by mail. But the whole point is, yes kids were driven and enticed by cig companies to smoke and be rewarded for doing so. Remember Marlboro miles? Those were a big hit as well!
I remember Joe Camel 🐫from the late 80s. Sadly all of us kids that were born in the late 70s to early 80s though he was cool. I saw commercials, billboards, and advertising in magazines. As an adult I know now it wasn’t cool. All that definitely helped me inevitably become a smoker. I’m glad I’ve been off cigarettes since 2015.
Joe Camel was a few years gone by the time I was born, but there was still quite a lot of him around in my early childhood in the form of merch. The t-shirts are the main thing I remember. Even though my dad didn’t smoke camels, I think he had at least one shirt. It’s still hard for me to believe that even after all that evidence emerged on how the ads were attracting children, some governing body didn’t step in and pull the ads.
I was an adult when Joe Camel appeared, because I was an adult non smoker, who had just watched my mother endure the process of quitting I wasn’t about to start. I’m glad I didn’t, as I have ADHD and it would have been hell to quit. My mom later said that she felt guilty for smoking as long as she did, because it hurt me, told her that she shouldn’t, because she presented a VERY powerful anti smoking model.
Sure do remember Joe Camel, I was a teenager during the 90s. I had several items bought with Camel cash. My favorite item is a pool cue that I still have to this day. Never smoked a Camel cigarette in my entire life. All of the Camel cash I saved was through friends and family or found on discarded cigarette packs.
Looking back, I smoked as a teen and was angry that anyone would want to take my right to smoke away. Now that I’m an adult, I can see that cigarette companies were downright predatory and downright evil. I still remember stealing a Virginia Slim from my mother around four years old and trying it behind our shed. I immediately coughed and my mom caught me, she was absolutely horrified.
I used to smoke camel Turkish gold cigarettes and one time in college I was standing outside the lecture hall smoking a camel and my English professor came by and saw what I was smoking and said “Camels? Great! My father thanks you!” I was taken aback by his unusual enthusiasm and asked “why would he thank me?” He laughed and said “Oh, because he’s an attorney for R.J. Reynolds!” Definitely made me think a bit about what I was doing… I didn’t quit then but did a few years later cold turkey.
I remember the ice cream trucks in the 90’s Sold candy cigarettes … Yaaaa for real . The tip I believe had even a hint of red like it being lit. It sort of had a chalk taste or like the stick to the ” stick N Dip ” candy. …..had myself a two pack a day habit. Till my mom found out her change jar was getting pretty light. Nevertheless, don’t smoke kids
Amazing to think how little that Family Guy episode was exaggerating. “The last thing we want is for children to start smoking.” “Well, what about that graph that says ‘The first thing we want is for kids to start smoking’?” “Oh, that’s just something my son made in art class.” “Oh. W-well, what about that sign that says ‘The graph wasn’t made in art class. We really want kids to start smoking’?”
Being 41 years old I remember all the cigarette campaigns the Marlboro man Joe Camel and the Newport aids were everyone was hanging out on a beach etc etc I don’t remember them making me think oh smoking is cool cause a camel is lighting up or some younger people hanging and smoking on a beach my own family was more of the negative impact then commercial tactics… Great upload
Joe Camel wasn’t targeted towards kids back then any more than Bud light’s Spuds Mackenzie was. Animal and cartoon figures for smoking back then were targeted by advocacy groups, but not ones for alcohol, because smoking restriction laws were becoming common then. Now, it has become “common knowledge” that these were targeted towards kids, when that fact had been nothing more than an accusation back then by these groups.
This is fascinating. OK – I was 20 in 1988 and picked up smoking various brands and menthols vs. regular and ultimately choose Camel Lights. I don’t really recall Joe Camel, but I am sure he influenced my brand decisions. I did get lighters from the camel bucks. I loved the taste of camels and finally quit 2.5 years ago. GenX guy here.
The Camel Wides advertising with Joe Camel was the coolest to me. Having a couple of relatives who worked at the Tobaccoville plant for 30+ years, they always brought home everything that had just came out. My two favorites are the Joe Camel dartboard (with matching darts) and the poster that had him leaning on what resembles a 1957 Plymouth.
My best friend’ grandfather recently passed & he was some bigwig rep for RJR. I ended up with an entire “garage worth” of Camel/Winston/Whatever the Menthol & Starts with a M brand was. I was old enough to be mostly coherent in the 90’s & I had no idea there was more Camels than just Joe. I was like LastMonthesOld when I found out. Real Men smoke & drink constantly & consistently but I can’t imagine it was a very hard arguement by the feds to cry about Joe Camel.
I never knew just how effective Joe Camel was as a mascot, but the Camel Cash and Marlboro Miles were incredibly successful. I didn’t smome, but some friends and coworkers did.. Any time I saw a discarded pack I grabbed the UPC’s. Lucky for me, smokers were reliable litterbugs. Between my parents’ and my scavenging we got an inflatable raft, a travel bag that I still have (good quality!), and some sweatshirts. Only complaint was I had a gallon bag of proofs that I failed to send in before the promotion ended. 1990s were a good time to be a smoker. 😉
Indeed the ad campaign was intended for as young a target market as possible. It was the early 90s and unfortunately for 6 years prior I had been a smoker. The most popular brand among my peer group was Marlboro. Light cigarettes targeted us like deer in the headlamps. By 91 I had switched to Camel Wides which were the Joe Camel cigarettes. I was definitely going to smoke Wides from then on…
I loved Joe Camel growing up as a kid in the late 80’s. Never once thought of smoking back then! What got me smoking (and I have now since quit!) was in my early 20’s; I started so I could get just as many breaks as the cigarette smokers because I thought it highly unfair they get soooo many breaks during their shift, where-as non smokers barely got 20 min for lunch! Stupid reason to start but it wasn’t because of Joe Camel!
2 things: I live in Winston-Salem NC, home of RJR, and our awesome little town is also known as Camel City. There are many references to it in local business brands. Second thing: I also remember when I was in my early 20’s (height of the Joe Camel campaign) that part of the criticism/controversy of Joe Camel was that his face was symbolic of phallic symbols and vulva, to add a sexualized component to the ads.
I don’t recall an actual cartoon of Joe Camel, just an illustration. There was no Joe Camel Saturday morning show or newspaper strip. Illustrations are everywhere in advertising… nobody accuses the Michelin Man of trying to sell tires to kids or the old Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner illustration from trying to push vacuum cleaners on them. I think Camel gets a bad wrap for Joe.
Don’t know if it caused more to smoke or just made young smokers switch. Peer pressure, I believe, is they really culprit. I never had a desire to smoke, drink or do drugs, just did not interest me. I found that if asked and said no, no one actually cared one way or another. Everyone on my family drank and smoked, a few smoked pot. I am glad that tobacco is not advertised on TV, should do some with alcohol. After all, they try to make drinking sexy and cool also. Just go to your local VFW or nearest dive bar, you get to see how wonderful alcohol really is. I say school trips to dive bars to see the real glamor of drinking and smoking.
I remember as a kid, the local convenience stores would have the camel cigarettes at shin level, with all the candy, while all the other cigarette brands were on the wall behind the checkout. I never did buy any, as I couldn’t figure out if they were like the bubblegum or the Popeye cigarettes. I wonder how many of my peers were fooled into it. Also, a hell of a lot of store owners as well, having them next to all the candy. This was late ‘70s and early ‘80s, in the GTA region of Ontario, Canada.
In 1946, many years before the Joe Camel gimmick, Reynolds launched an ad campaign with the slogan, “More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette.” They’d solicited this “finding” by giving doctors a free carton of Camel cigarettes, and then asking what brand they smoked. It was a successful ad campaign, people believed that nonsense.
I started smoking at age 12.5~, and quit at 60. My parents smoked but didn’t of course want me to smoke. I started with camels non filtered, that was when filtered cigarettes were new. I thought that they were so cool, just like the people I saw in the movies at the Cresent Art Theatre in Louisville. It only showed foreign movies and I was so entertained by all of it. I quit when I could hear/feel moisture when I breathed. All’s well after 15 years!
What I remember most from the 60s-80s were the cigarette ad jingles and tag lines. “Winston tastes good like a cigarette should.” “A silly millimeter longer.” – Chesterfield “I’d rather fight than switch.” – Tareyton “You’ve come a long way, baby.” – Virginia Slims The Marlboro western-style jingle. Too many to remember!
I remember as a kid I had a “Smokin’ Joe’s Racing” tin box that I thought was so cool, I’d keep toys and coins in it It was bright purple/neon green/highlighter yellow with a NASCAR car on the side, and Joe Camel on the front in shades and a leather jacket smoking. Looking back, that was OBVIOSULY geared towards kids to make it look like smoking was cool, and it worked.
I remember in my late teens Marlboro had counter displays right in front of the register. I was in a local shop and the cashier was busy in the back when 2 kids, 12ish, strolled in and snatched a few packs each then ran out. I told the cashier and she said it happens all the time but the owner said not to worry about it. Years later I learned that those displays were a marketing ploy to get kids to steal cigarettes and get them hooked.
In 1970, I visited a relative in Detroit. In the apartment downstairs, lived a 60-some year old, wizened old man who lived with his 80-something mother. Everybody called him “Colonel”. He was bow legged, walked with a cane, and was barrel-chested, wheezed, and had no teeth. He was friendly and good natured, and laughed easily, until coughing spasms would take over, and make it impossible for him to talk, let alone laugh. He used to send me or my sister to the store to buy him Camel cigarettes. He’d tear the filters off and light up, and he was a chain-smoker. Presumably, he died of the emphysema he had.
Phillip Morris is no saint either. I used to do promotions for Parliament cigs back in the late 90s at the Jersey shore bars. We literally gave out free packs of cigarettes to anyone who filled out a survey form. Not only did we give out free cigs, we gave out t-shirts, backpacks, ash trays, sweat shirts, and even raffled off a mountain bike at the end of every night. It paid a ton of money, especially for a college kid’s summer time job. Funny thing was I didn’t like Parliaments, so I used to smoke Camel Lights while handing out free Parliaments.
Okay, so when I was a kid there was a series of commercials for Labatt Blue (I think?.? It was damn near 40 years ago now) wherein one of the executive’s nephew needed a summer job, but was woefully incompetent. The commercials would show the nephew (Jerry? Johnny? I honestly can’t remember) making some insane blunder at the bottling plant and the actual product would arrive at stores as if the mistake was truly made by the nephew IRL. I recall one in particular where he loaded the labels upside down and then for the next month or so, the beers all had upside down labels. In another he reverses the ink used to dye the bottle caps and ends up with a blue maple leaf on a red cap instead of the inverse and sure enough, the next month or so, all caps had blue maple leaves. I wasn’t a drinker then and sure as hell aren’t now, but as far as advertising campaigns go, I still remember it 4 decades later! Maybe you could do a little piece about that run?
I started smoking when i was 12 and I’m 32 now so 20 years i should quit and probably will. I started at military school in Texas. I remember when i got home to Idaho i would have 18 year olds buy me smokes and i smoked menthol cigarettes and didn’t know there were other types. I remember trying my first normal smoke and was like what fuck have I been smoking for the last year.
I’m surprised you didn’t mention those bubblegum sticks that imitate getting and using cigarettes. Even the packs look like their adult real cigarette packs. They even puffed out dust to imitate the smoke that emitted out of a real cigarette. I recalled my sis and I play smoking with those play packs. Yet we grew up never picking up an actual real cigarette once. We are still smoke-free. We were weird kids… We even remade Beauty and the Beast which in our story took place in 1950s Las Vegas and the Beast was a casino boss who got cursed by the Mafia Fairies. Those cigarette gum packs were props. There was a lot of crossovers, including Back to the Future, Aladdin, Lion King and James Bond movies. It got complicated by the time my sis got sick, so we had to stop. There were over 1000s of episodes. I always try to buy physical toys that encourage my nephews and nieces to use their imagination and make up their own stories and movies during play time. Times sure has changed since the 1980s and 90s. Now there aren’t even toy stores to browse around to know what is available. 😢 People forget the importance of playing and its affects on brain development and critical thinking. I worked in PreK as a para for 3 years and let me say that kids today don’t know how to play correctly. They know how to make a huge mess and run around, but don’t know how to build or use their imaginations to create different worlds and express what the stories are about. In some ways, electronics took that away from them.
Ads like this never brainwashed me. To me what made me want to smoke was the smell of cigarettes being smoked by people around me. I was born in the early 90s and was a kid in the early 2000s and I remember the smells of cigarettes everywhere for some reason. I decided to smoke a little late at age 25 and only smoke on and off like one pack will last me months like about 5-6 cigs a month. There is something haunting about cigarettes for me like they are from the old world and make me feel nostalgic.
Camel also had also released flavored cigarettes around 2003. These included Orange, Orange Menthol, Berry, Coffee, Vannila and I think a few more. They were taken off the market after bad news stories erupted. They came in a tin box that was designed to feature eye-catching colors. (I smoked them back then when I was 15, and they got me hooked, no doubt about it. The Top tobacco company released bagged tobacco that you had to roll yourself, but they featured a few flavors like Cherry and a Lime Margarita flavor, among others.
It wasn’t long after Joe Camel campaign that I quit smoking for good. I didn’t start smoking because of a mascot, nor did I quit because of one. I’ll say you shouldn’t smoke, it doesn’t help and is really hard to give it up, but there has to be more to it than just a cartoon. A colleague of mine recently died at age 62. He had a heart attack in his late 50s, but kept smoking. That’s how hard it is to give it up.
I remember those candy cigarettes there was different brands and the candy inside the paper was so awful but I always wanted to buy them and there was really cool ones that made powder smoke come out when you blow on it. They even had Popeyes brand and so many people used to give them out at Halloween the little mini pack I think there was only 3 or 4 in it.
I started smoking when I was 14 and while Camels were available and a known brand it was never that popular here, the flavor was too strong. 30 years later I was in Singapore and the only brand familiar was Camel and I was surprised they weren’t that bad. I had switched to vaping by then but it’s illegal in Singapore so was on cigarettes. Haven’t been able to quit cigs since though I’m trying.
I remember Joe Camel. I had just graduated high school in 1990 and the camel cash thing had been going on. My buddy and I used to smoke Marlboros when we started, but by then we were smoking camels like crazy. I was up to 3 packs a day at one point. Between the two of us we saved up enough camel cash to get the camcorder that was in the catalogue in 1991. We never got the camcorder (it looked like a Memorex but it was unbranded in the catalog if I remember correctly), but they sent us a check for about $400 or $475 or something like that. A camcorder like that back then would have been double that, but $425 was the cost of a month’s rent we were both behind on so we took that. There used to be a bomber jacket with Joe Camel on the back too. I haven’t smoked in years now and at age 49 I’m the healthiest I’ve ever been. Funny, I still like that jacket, lol.
The study given was also proven by the old winston cig ads from the 50s-60s commercials with stars like Lucille ball from I Love Lucy and even cartoon characters like the flintstones, jetsons, etc. Reminder that in the mid 50s-mid 60s, saturday morning cartoons were hitting a golden era led by Hanna Barbera and many kids saw it to the point that it convinced generations that cartoons are only for kids.
My mom tried so hard to get me to become a smoker from a very young age. I was lucky enough to be able to avoid an addiction to nicotine, my younger brother how ever was not so lucky unfortunately. My mom tried pushing cigarettes on both of us from the time we could walk, and every once in a while she still offers me a cigarette. Every time I turn her down she calls me a stiff, or a loser. I’m almost 26 now and I don’t ever want to smoke again in my life.
I’m not a smoker but I miss Joe Camel. He never made me want to smoke. Hell, we used to buy candy cigarettes at the snack bar of our neighborhood pool, and those never made me want to smoke either. And I grew up when cigarette machines were in many restaurants and were easy for kids to access. On a related matter, you know what’s really good at making people start smoking? The fact that smokers enjoy more breaks than their coworkers. My wife started smoking as an adult so she could get smoke breaks and have an immediate “in” with coworkers.
I am a millennial, I was born in 89. I smoke camel and have since I was 14. Joe camel is a cool character, I loved him when I was a kid. I never smoked camel cigarettes because of joe. My cousins friend smoked camel wides and I loved the logo. I also looked up to Richard as someone to aspire to because he was a great guy. Tobacco adds never made me smoke.
I started smoking cigarettes in 1987. I was obviously aware of Joe Camel, but I didn’t really take it into consideration when choosing a brand. I tried lots, and Camels tasted better than most, aside from Dunhill and Benson & Hedges, but those weren’t widely available and were more expensive. And yes, I’ve since quit smoking.
I was about 18 when they retired ol’ Joe. But by that point, I had already been smoking for a little over 5 years (since right before I turned 13). I’m in my 40’s now,, and I TRULY WISH that I had NEVER STARTED!!… I’m trying to quit, since I’d really love to be able to see what my grandchildren are going to be like. But it’s the absolute HARDEST thing I’ve EVER done!! It’s TRULY a NASTY A$$ habit!!
Joe Camel and Marlboro bucks were big in the 90s, I think the tobacco companies saw the writing on the wall and were trying to pull as many smokers over to their brand by giving out tons of cheap stuff. Some of the T shirts werent bad but the best damn idea they had was the Joe Camel fishing bait, that thing will catch the hell out of smallmouth and pike. Glad to say I gave up smokes for good back in 2014, I havent made many good decisions in my life but that was one of the best.
I collect linings from discarded empty cigarette packs in a variety of colors: silver (by far the most common), black, golden, bronze, red, blue, and bright green. I use them in creating artwork — mosaic-like “paintings” with all sorts of other discarded papers cut out and glued onto “canvases” of recycled cardboard or other sturdy packaging materials.
Growing up my friends dad was a higher up in RJ Reynolds marketing department, They had a barn full of adverts with Joe Camel and we as kids loved him. We loved him because he was cool, not because he smoked..he just looked awesome on a lighter..lol I didn’t start smoking until i was 25 and i’ve never smoked camels..too rough for me.
My Dad had so much merchandise: Camel bucks, salt and pepper shakers, cups, jackets, you name it, he had it. It was super collectible stuff, however, and, maybe I am the exception, but as a kid I never wanted to smoke at all. Something about seeing a cartoon camel ashtray, filled with ash and cigarette butts with that nasty smell just kinda put me off to smoking.
I remember how glamorized smoking was in the Joe Camel era. Virginia Slims were equally fashionable as a cigarette … as far as their ads go. I was well aware of cigarettes’ dangers and never started, but I almost always enjoyed seeing the cigarette ads wherever they appeared. It helped that they were never obnoxious. But, gad – some of those ladies in the Virginia Slims ads … they were just way too skinny.
I was like 10 when this stuff came out. I lived near a convenience store and would collect all the camel cash and Marlboro miles tossed in the trash. No pesky websites asking my age. Just good old envelope and a stamp to redeem. I still have the Joe camel 6pack beer can sling and a Marlboro Jean jacket. Those were the days!!
I used to get some Joe Camel merchandise for free since the RJ Reynold’s rep was very generous various promotional items. Eventually I got rid of most of my collection since it seems pointless to own stuff that promoted smoking. And I was all too happy to exchange my Joe Camel mug and T-shirt for similar items that a local youth club sponsored.
I grew up in the 90’s and smoked camel wides as a teenager. Not because of Joe Camel, I never read regular magazine so I didn’t get to see him too much, but because you got more for your money. $2.25 a pack, then $2.35. Other than camel wides, I smoked red kamel lights (or kamel red lights, depending who you asked).
Lol, I remember looking at a Joe Camel ad in Omni magazine when I was around 11 and thinking how cool he looked in his pastel sports jacket with a t-shirt underneath and that I wanted to dress like that too. And yes, the first cigarettes I bought about a year later were Camels, though I rarely smoked Camels later. I quit in my early twenties. Such a stupid habit.
I remember Joe from my childhood, my dad smoked camels and although Joe was discontinued before I was born, I recall ads in old magazines, a tshirt or 2 and an ashtray that pops mustve gotten years before. I remember asking my dad and he straight up told me who Joe was lol I was always drawn to the asthetic but to have never smoked!
Kool had a mascot? Neat… But much like lots of the other people my age, I had a metric butt ton of Camel cash, and looking back it may have been kind of crazy to see an 11-year-old boy show up to school decked out in a Joe Cool Camel bomber jacket. I mean, that never happened, though it’s not like I didn’t try, but I never had more than 200 or so Camel bucks. A lot of boys my age, back in 96, all wanted that jacket.
I miss cigarette advertisements. I smoked Camels for a time, and the reason I switched to them from Marlboro is a very sweet story about my first kiss, which I won’t be telling y’all about. Suffice it to say her name was Kim, and I still talk to her to this day (said first kiss was in 1988). I was 17, and had been in the Marine Corps for about, including boot camp, 5 months. Nowadays I smoke Marlboro 72 Blacks exclusively (only because they discontinued 72 Blue). My first cigarette was a Benson & Hedges that I swiped from my dad when I was 6. Still going strong and my lungs and Pulse/Ox are great (Pulse/Ox was 99 last week). The smoking lamp is lit, boys!
I remember one time my school had an assembly and they showed us ads of different cigarette brands like Winston and the Marlboro Man leaned up against a fence post with his cowboy hat on and none of the kids really reacted and then they showed Joe Camel dressed up like 007 in front of a submarine breaching the surface all the other kids cheered and I was like “oh ok, they’re gathering data, I’m going to miss those ads.” when I got older I smoked camels and eventually graduated to Turkish Royals, if you smoke full flavor non menthols I highly recommend giving them a try.
My dad smoked Camels till the day they took one of his lungs (he quit after that btw!) and as a kid I had all sorts of swag from Camel Cash! Hat, shirts… even my first DiscMan was from CC points. But as much as I recognized Joe Camel I never did want to smoke cigarettes… I still knew not to. Seeing my parents cough all the time was enough for me.
In the 70’s when I was a kid in school, I remember this man hanging around the school at the end of the day, handing small 5 pack cigarette boxes “For your parents” he would say as he handed them out to us walking home from school. I was 10 and lived in a predominantly Hispanic and Black neighborhood in Manhattan, messed up things they did back then.
I started smoking Camel filters when I was eight because they were stronger than Marlboro Reds but not as strong as my Mom’s Pall Malls. I honestly didn’t even notice Joe Camel until 92-93. I mean at the same time the local high school had a student smoking Lounge plus a small outdoor smoking area so it’s not exactly like the businesses are the bad guys. I think it was the 91-92 school year when they finally did close the student smoking Lounge
A lot of studies now show that advertising does very little to bring people into the market it mainly effects market share so it can be argued that while they were market to kids they didn’t drag kids into smoking just influenced their choice of brand when they stared for other reasons like peer pressure or alcohol
I was too young to be exposed to much of Joe Camel but the name and the still recent history definitely was definitely brought up when talking about the tobacco industry. I think the schools and other coverage avoided actually showing the character during those years though as that would make it harder to prove the point it was bad (maybe?)
I remember perusal Moonwalker a lot when I was little in the late 80’s. In the film Michael Jackson’s “Speed Demon” had Joe Camel riding a motorcycle and saving Mr. Jackson from terrifying claymation fans. The article ends with a dance off between Joe and the biggest pop star in the world. That whole premise shows just what was wrong with Joe Camel and Michael Jackson trying to appeal inappropriately to young children.
I still got a whole carton of the camel collector packs plus the holiday packs and the 75th birthday pack. I don’t think having a mascot’s got anything to do with anything though try to get people to stop smoking and they start vaping you can take every cigarette and every drug out of this world and by the end of the day there’d be just a many things for people to do that you took away
One of my Uncles was a big Camel smoker, and I swear he only smoked that brand just to redeem all those “camel bucks,” in the packages. He had beach towels, a pair of lounge chairs for him and my Aunt, (who also smoked until she caught lupis), and even a cooler. I forget what else he had, but it was all “free,” with those camel bucks. You just had to save up an x amount in order to get said item.
And speaking of C Notes, Marlboro had their own promotion called Marlboro miles in which each pack of cigarettes had 5 mile points no less, no more. On one occasion, they offered a red Marlboro brand folding bike for a total of 2,200 points plus $110 shipping and handling, which attracted me from a magazine advertisement. Because I was a nonsmoking, always had and always will, I had to collect the mile points from every empty Marlboro packs there was on the ground, in trash cans, etc. 440 empty packs and by the time I turned 21, I was finally old enough to purchase the bike. However, I had to lie that I was a smoker ( which I wasn’t ) and agree to receive promotional mail ads in the future whether I wanted it or not. Eventually, the bike did arrive and lasted me at least 6 years of on and off use. However, the company never knew my status quo, even though I contacted them of discontinuing the promotional mail ins as I had not taken advantage of them for quite a while, never mentioning to them once that I never smoked in my life. I think they discontinued the miles promotion shortly after Joe Camel retired. In hinesight, the promotions were sending the wrong messages to the wrong demographic. So in other words, nonsmokers have to lie in order to get a bike from the mail and receive feedback for something they have no future interest in. The truth really hurts. I would rather order a bike from Pepsi than a cigarette brand company. At least, I don’t have to drink Pepsi to order one as oppose to smoking 440 packs or 8800 cigarettes if you stretch it.
I used to love Joe camel. I don’t know why they got rid of him. I understand they felt like he encouraged kids to smoke but I never did. If someone owed me money didn’t have cash and I knew they were smoker I’d except camel bucks instead so I could collect the merchandise and I didn’t smoke because I didn’t want to. No one forced me to smoke
I was a kid when Joe Camel was canceled. In the late 80s. The local news was saying more kids knew Joe Camel than Mickey Mouse. That is a false equation. It’s more to do with who can afford cable TV and whose parents were smokers. Those camel advertisements were at every corner store. Meanwhile Mickey Mouse was only on cable TV. I don’t remember any kids thinking Joe Camel was cool. The fact is they knew Joe Camel from all the public advertisements.
I know it’s bad but Joe brings me comfort like 80’s and 90’s commercials. Camel made a fruit flavor when I was 13-14 NGL those were the best cigarettes I ever smoked, they were so sweet and smooth like they were actually pleasurable as described lol but I only got 1 box in 2002 and never saw them again. I would definitely still smoke them if they continued making them I haven’t smoked tobacco since 2012
And i can see the marketing statigy, lets not forget in 89 the simpsons were still new and controversial necaue of the themes being geared towards adults. See most of the cartoons today are adult themed in some sense. I have a huge colection of joe swag. Every lighter, every ashtray. Lay off the hard pack. Still my favorite album
as a 5 year old, I wanted to smoke because of joe camel lmfao. I would buy candy cigs or fake powder cigs. The art for Joe Camel was memorable and reminded me of something like Batman the Animated Series when they started to introduce that noir look. I would go to liquor stores and pick up the Camel Bucks and mix em up with my Toys R Us Jeffry bucks lmfaoooooooo
You left some stuff out- Advertisements for Camel cigarettes in convenience stores were mounted at a kid’s eye level. Studies showed that like 90% of adult smokers started when they were minors. You didn’t talk about the huge government lawsuit against big tobacco in the 90s, and you didn’t mention that tobacco company CEOs testified in front of Congress in the 70s that they didn’t think nicotine was addictive.
My parents Did “Marlboro Miles” they would save them and then order Marlboro merchandise, t-shirts, jackets, bags, zippos and so on.. My cousins Mom did Camel bucks and would get Camel Merchandise. We’d wear this stuff to school all the time. Then in 8th grade we started to get in trouble for wearing it… I got expelled for 3 days for having a sticker of Joe Camel on my “Trapper keeper” lol
I was born in ’65, I experienced this whole thing and I didn’t start smoking until ’85 when I joined the Navy. Maybe slap a warning label on recruiting offices. I couldn’t imagine being in the service and not smoking. Oh and I smoked Newport’s, because nobody but the bruthas would bum them. 😂 Then I graduated to cigars. Completely gave up tobacco almost 20 years ago.
I remember in the 90s the ice cream trucks used to have candy cigarettes with the pack looking like different cigarette brands (but like slightly different.. Like Newport would be like OldPort but the packaging looking the same). And as an adult I was thinking about how messed up that is.. It was like they were preparing us to smoke.. We used to think it was so cool and used to pretend to smoke with the candy.. And it worked too cuz I started smoking at 13.. 😕.
Camels were not as easy to find along the roads. I am in my 40s. My brother and I have not smoked and still don’t. But my brother and I would ride our bikes around town picking up discarded packs when we was young. We would collect the miles we found and save them. After we had enough we would take them to our mother and have her order the items we wanted.