Joe Camel Walks His Last Mile

By Richard T. Kaplar

Joe Camel — that ubiquitous sax-playing, girl-catching, ultra-hip dromedary — has bit the sand.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. announced July 10 that the popular cartoon character would be replaced in Camel ads by an animal figure similar to the camel on the cigarette pack.

The announcement came six weeks after the Federal Trade Commission lodged a complaint against R.J. Reynolds charging that the Joe Camel campaign was an “unfair practice” under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. In a 3-2 vote, the FTC said Joe Camel unfairly induced many young people to use “an addictive and dangerous product” they were too young to purchase legally.

The complaint included a proposed order that would bar most uses of Joe Camel and would require RJR to conduct an anti-smoking campaign aimed at kids. An FTC complaint is not a finding of actual wrongdoing, but is the first step in a formal hearing process.

Commissioners Mary L. Azcuenaga and Roscoe B. Starek, III dissented. “Intuition and concern for children’s health are not the equivalent of — and should not be substituted for — evidence [of] a likely causal connection between the Joe Camel advertising campaign and smoking by children,” Commissioner Starek said in his dissenting statement.

The FTC’s complaint led to a subpoena of an estimated 5 million to 8 million pages of RJR documents dating from 1972, although Joe Camel didn’t appear until 1988. RJR filed suit in a U.S. district court in Greensboro, N.C., seeking an order that the FTC abide by its own rules for reopening a proceeding. (The FTC dropped a similar action against RJR in 1994 for lack of evidence.) The FTC is moving ahead with the current probe despite Joe Camel’s demise.

Old Joe’s trip to the abattoir was probably inevitable. As part of the industry’s settlement with state attorneys general, tobacco makers agreed to banish human and cartoon images in advertising — a move that dooms both Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man once the pact is implemented.

RJR said, however, that the decision to phase out Joe Camel by August was driven by marketing concerns and the desire to roll out a promising new ad campaign.