Joe Camel
Joe Camel was a cartoon - mascot for Camel - cigarettes . It was used from 1987 to July 1997. The cartoon itself, as well as the “cool” and funny appearance, were criticized because this advertising was apparently intended specifically to target adolescents.
Joe Camel was created in 1987 by the RJ Reynolds Tobacco (RJR) marketing team as a highly recognizable advertising character . At the time, the manufacturer believed their brand of cigarettes was positioned as "too old". Management therefore called for a completely new campaign to attract younger (potential) smokers.
In 1991 the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study that found that children aged five to six knew Joe Camel better than Mickey Mouse and Fred Flintstone . Reynolds was therefore accused of targeting children with this advertising. At the time, 32.8% of all cigarettes sold to minors were Camels, down from 1% before the campaign began.
The American Medical Association now called on RJR Nabisco to stop the Joe Camel advertising, but RJR refused. Further calls followed in 1993 and 1994.
Under pressure from the US Congress and private initiatives, on July 10, 1997, RJR announced that it would end the Joe Camel campaign. A new campaign followed that was significantly more adult-oriented. Instead of a humanized camel, a simple picture of a four-footed camel was shown.
To this day Reynolds denies that Joe Camel should primarily appeal to children and adolescents, instead the target group was 18-25 year old men and smokers of the Marlboro brand .
Anti-smoking groups and consumer protection groups point out that the Joe Camel campaign in particular is proof of how easy it is to influence children and young people through advertising and marketing strategies.
Scott Plous and Ron Turner drew Joe Chemo in 1996 to show what happened to Joe Camel a year later. Namely, he had to undergo chemotherapy and is now coughing and terminally ill in a hospital bed.
literature
- PM Fischer, MP Schwartz, JW Richards Jr, AO Goldstein, TH Rojas: Brand logo recognition by children aged 3 to 6 years. Mickey Mouse and Old Joe the Camel. In: JAMA. 266 (22), Dec 11, 1991, pp. 3145-3148.
- JR DiFranza, JW Richards, PM Paulman, N. Wolf-Gillespie, C. Fletcher, RD Jaffe, D. Murray: RJR Nabisco's cartoon camel promotes camel cigarettes to children. In: JAMA. 266 (22), Dec 11, 1991, pp. 3149-3153.
Individual evidence
- ↑ More About Joe Chemo. In: joechemo.org. May 28, 1997. Retrieved July 23, 2019 .