Jessica Payne

What happened to Joe Camel? Joe Camel was banished to cartoon character Siberia when R.J. Reynolds was accused of targeting children with its Joe Camel campaign. Joe appeared in magazine ads, on billboards, and other media wearing dark sunglasses, a leather jacket, and was always smoking a Camel cigarette. Many were concerned because children could associate Joe Camel with cigarettes the same way they connect Mickey Mouse with Disney.

In 1991, The Journal of the American Medical Association conducted research that showed 32.8% of all cigarettes sold illegally to underage buyers were Camel brand cigarettes. This was a turning point for all tobacco advertisements. R.J. Reynolds was forced to remove Joe Camel from all advertisements. It’s rare to even find images of him on the internet. Tobacco companies can no longer advertise in the media. The only way to get any type of advertising such as coupons is to go directly to their website, verify your age and request it. After Joe Camel was banned from the media it brought a new awareness to smokers. As of 2004 nearly half of all Americans who smoked had quit. So in other words regulating when, where, and how tobacco companies are able to advertise cut down on legal and illegal smoking.

What about alcohol advertisements? Do they impact underage drinking? The Budweiser commercials with Hank the Clydesdale and the even more popular Budweiser frogs --What makes these advertisements any different from the Joe Camel campaigns?

Some researchers have the audacity to claim that youth are more skeptical and critical towards advertisements than adults. I have three children and I know this is untrue. In my opinion youth are innocent victims of advertising and young children, tweens, and teens are influenced by outside forces far more than adults are.

The only reason that cigarette brand mascots like Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man were banned is because courts were able to prove that the advertisements targeted people ages 14-24. Beer and alcohol companies are standing firm claiming their advertisements are targeted toward adults. Research has shown that children who view alcohol advertisements have intentions to drink alcohol as adults; they view these ad campaigns as fun and interesting. R.J. Reynolds was accused of trying to influence underage potential smokers to choose their brand when they became of legal age to smoke and were banned from media advertising.

But isn’t this what beer and alcohol ads are doing, influencing upcoming generations to choose a certain brand of alcohol over another?

Graphic Credit:
Animationfactory.com