Camels, Clowns and Cartoons
There’s one reason corporations use cartoons and other children’s characters to sell harmful products: they’re effective. Remember Joe Camel? That marketing icon helped make R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company’s Camel cigarettes the most recognizable brand among young people – its target demographic.
Within one year of the introduction of the anthropomorphic camel, the brand once dismissed by young people became the third most popular cigarette among youth aged 12 to 18..
In response to the cigarette corporation’s transparent effort to market its product to young people, Corporate Accountability International (then Infact) organized the “Send Joe Camel Packing” campaign. In time, President Bill Clinton, the American Medical Association, the Surgeon General, and the Federal Trade Commission would oppose the use of Joe Camel. R.J. Reynolds ultimately agreed to end all advertising featuring the cartoon camel.
It’s time that Ronald McDonald joined Joe Camel in retirement. These tired mascots should be spending their golden years relaxing and sharing tales of their bygone days spent targeting children with deadly products.