In 1998 the government stepped in and made the tobacco industry promise that it wouldn’t direct their advertising and marketing towards underage teens. However, recent studies have shown an increase in teen smoking and researchers found that the source is Camel cigarettes.
The controversial advertisements are for R.J. Reynold’s Camel No. 9 cigarettes and that were featured in popular women’s magazines like Vogue, Glamour and Lucky in 2007. The ads were made to blend in with the pages of a fashion magazine. The cigarettes are featured with dresses, shoes, jewelry and purses. Basically the cigarettes were mixed with fashion items that teen girls would find appealing.
“The ads had a lot imagery that is girl-like,” says Cheryl Healton with the American Legacy Foundation, an anti-tobacco advocacy group. “The cigarettes were described as light and luscious and featured pink packaging. Making them almost like candy.”
Over the course of several years, the girls were asked, “What is the name of the cigarette brand of your favorite cigarette advertisement?” In 2004, 10 percent of girls chose Camel as their favorite brand. In 2008, a year after R.J. Reynolds launched its new female friendly campaign, 22 percent of girls chose Camel as their favorite brand.
“The majority of these kids had not reported a favorite ad before,” says the study’s author, John Pierce with the University of Southern California-San Diego’s Moores Cancer Center.
This increase has public health officials concerned. Studies have found that teens who can tell you the name of the brand of their favorite cigarette ad are 50 percent more likely to take up smoking in the next three years.
When asked their thoughts the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company said that it “adheres to numerous restrictions on how it markets its tobacco products and does not take any action to target youth.” The company’s statement goes on to say, “Camel No. 9 was developed in response to female adult smokers…who were asking for a product that better reflected their taste preferences and style.”
Pierce estimates Camel’s 2007 marketing campaign may have influenced 174,000 underage girls to start smoking.
SOURCE: http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/03/15/was-it-a-cigarette-ad-campaign-that-worked-on-teenagers/