Since his 1988 debut, Old Joe Camel has become a ubiquitous presence on billboards, phone booths and magazine pages. Whether he’s on the beach or in the bar, straddling his chopper or jamming on the bandstand, the macho dromedary is often surrounded by adoring babes. Sometimes Joe offers Camel buyers coupons that can be redeemed for T shirts and baseball caps. He also mugs for promotional events such as the Camel “Mud & Monster” series, a stadium show in which trucks with giant wheels drive over piles of empty cars. Who is this multimillion-dollar campaign directed at? Suspecting that kids are the true targets of such promotions, three teams of researchers designed studies to find out. The results, published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, leave little doubt. In one experiment, researchers at the Medical College of Georgia asked 229 children, ages 3 through 6, to match logos with 12 products pictured on a game board. Joe Camel was less familiar to the kids than the Coke or McDonald’s emblem, but more familiar than the logos for Cheerios or Kellogg’s cereal. Fully 91 percent of the 6-year olds could match Joe with a Camel cigarette-nearly the same proportion that could pair Mickey Mouse with the Disney Channel.
In two other studies–one from California and one from Massachusetts–medical researchers documented stunning differences in the way teens and adults respond to Joe Camel. The Massachusetts-based group surveyed 1,055 high-school students from around the country and compared their responses with those of 345 local adults (21 or older). The kids were more likely than the adults to recognize Joe, to know what brand he represents and to find the ads appealing. And while 9 percent of the adult smokers identified Camel as their brand, a whopping 33 percent of the schoolage smokers voiced that preference.
There’s no evidence that Joe Camel has affected the nation’s overall teenage smoking rate, which has held basically steady for the past decade after declining during the ’70s. But the new findings suggest a phenomenal increase in Camel’s share of the youth market. Citing seven earlier surveys in which less than 1 percent of teenage smokers named Camels as their brand, the researchers estimate that Camel sales to kids have risen from $6 million a year prior to Joe’s arrival to $476 million today.
Officials for R.J. Reynolds are quick to dismiss the new findings. Young people may recognize certain ads, says company spokeswoman Peggy Carter, but that doesn’t mean they’ll act on the message, which is “clearly directed at adult smokers.” According to Carter, kids under 18 account for only 2 percent of Camel sales but Reynolds s strongly opposes teenage smoking that it’s attacking the problem with special publicity materials. The materials include signs reminding retailers not to sell cigarettes to minors and a brochure titled “How To Talk To Your Kids About Not Smoking Even If You Do.” But as the new studies make clear, it will take more than a brochure to knock the redoubtable Joe off his chopper.
PHOTO: The smooth side of addiction: Joe Camel takes his message to the bus stop
Nine of every 10 smokers are addicted to nicotine. Until now, people who wanted to quit got their fix with nicotine gum. A new device, the transdermal nicotine patch, may he an appealing alternative. Worn on the torso or upper arm, it eases withdrawal pain by delivering nicotine into the bloodstream, but at much lower levels than cigarettes. The patch, which must be prescribed by a doctor, comes in several dosages; wearers wean themselves over the course of about 12 weeks.
A new study in last week’s Journal of the American Medical Association gave further evidence of the patch’s efficacy. It involved 935 subjects who tried Nicoderm, made by ALZA Corp. and Marion Merrell Dow. More than a quarter of those who completed treatment, including counseling, were still off the weed after six months double the rate of smokers who get counseling but no nicotine replacement. “Most people who succeed in stopping do not do it in the first attempt,” says Dr. Stephen Rennard. “They should be encouraged to try again.” Nicoderm will be in the stores by the end of this month and CIBA-GEIGY’S Habitrol will be widely available next week. A patch (changed daily) costs about $3-a small price to pay to kick the nic.
