Talk:Joe Camel/Archives/2012

Sections
Why is there an subsection of the "History" section of this article entitled "Resemblance to male genitalia"? Couldn't that little tidbit be filed under something else? Djcartwright 20:23, 2 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I deleted it because it's non-notable. I don't think very many people really believe it (though it might be a somewhat popular joke). - furrykef (Talk at me) 08:56, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

Joe Camel Matchbook Series, etc.
1. During the 90's an extensive series of matchbooks appeared, published by D. D. Bean advertising company, each containing a joke about Joe Camel, his friends in the rock band (all wearing sunglasses), etc. You might say he was the archetypical Joke Animal (yuk yuk). I remember collecting the Fleers bubble gum comics (Pud et al.) when I was 9 years old and too cheap to buy the gum. Point is, children avidly collect anything that has a joke on it.

Well, here kids were exposed to a veritable anthology of cigaret advertising, but I think there was a second agenda-- the tobacco companies prefer that kids mess around with matches because more than lighters they promote the cigaret (that's the main thing-- get them to tolerate hotburning overdose, fire hazard, "matches up" with 20 to a pack etc.). Besides, matches make it harder to use an anti-overdose utensil-- that's what they're really afraid of. Keeping safe but unprofitable smoking equipment off the market is also behind their support for Partnership for a Drug Free America and its ads against cannabis.

2. About 1996 (check source evidence on this) Reynolds introduced CAMEL WIDES-- a new fatter cigaret building on the Joe Camel theme ("smooth character") to suggest that somehow "wider" cigarets are "smoother". That can't be true-- wider cigarets burn hotter-- but their research evidently convinced them children would fall for it. I think they hoped someday to move more smokers toward the wider cigaret-- stronger impact, more addictive. Anyway, this died in 1997 with the Joe Camel promotion under litigation pressures.

3. Surprise! In 2007, Camel ("Big, Fat and Delicious") and Kool ("Smoother") are again pushing fat cigarets-- in weekly papers read by many teenagers such as Chicago Reader.

4. You'd think any halfway rational smoker would prefer narrow cigarets-- less hot-burning, less health damage, etc. So the companies all marketed them, but on the premise that they were just for women ("Slimmer than the fat cigarettes men smoke!") so that men and boys would be scared to be seen using such a product lest they be teased for being effeminate.

5. (Encore). From 1913 (when Camels were introduced) to 1918 cigaret consumption doubled in the U.S. (I saw that somewhere, haven't found source yet.)  Oh yes, something known as World War I ran from 1914 to 1918. Soldiers in the trench found cigarets convenient-- what if you lost your pipe, etc. The public was deluged with propaganda glorifying everything soldierly (including guess what). The revered Eleanor Roosevelt, whose husband was Undersecretary of the Navy, appeared in hospitals giving free cigarets to the wounded Navy boys (Joseph P. Lash, , l972?).Tokerdesigner 22:40, 26 September 2007 (UTC)


 * sniff sniff* I smell bias. Take it elsewhere. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.99.210.12 (talk) 09:53, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

Another Cartoon Character That Used To Advertise Smoking
I remember in the early 90s there was another cartoon character besides Joe Camel that was used to advertise smoking. I believe it was a mouse or cat character that was used for only a year and then the government banned its use because it was even more alluring to youngsters than Joe Camel.

Do any of you guys know or remember what that character was? (I didn't know where to post this since the "category: tobacco advertising characters" did not have a talk page) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.43.1.11 (talk) 08:59, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Other "Camel" Mascots
I found this elsewhere, and I know that they're mascots meant to advertise other brands of the cigarettes. I know the short, stocky one in the white suit was meant to advertise the wides, and I think the others were meant to advertise the menthol and light brands, but I can't find any other info about them, including their names. Anyone got an idea as to who they are? 50.102.166.21 (talk) 19:33, 7 December 2011 (UTC)