|
Newsbrief:
Prohibition
as
a
Marketing
Tool
--
Camel
Ad
Campaign
Touts
"Forbidden
Fruit"
Appeal
7/9/04
RJ Reynolds, the tobacco
conglomerate that manufactures Camel cigarettes, is embarking on an ad
campaign that seeks to infuse its smokes with the glamour of the forbidden.
In a campaign that will culminate in November with Camel Mansion Speakeasy
parties on both coasts, RJ Reynolds is harkening back to the days of alcohol
Prohibition. The campaign will seek to convince smokers feeling downtrodden
by the anti-smoking legislation of today that they should instead revel
in their status as "outlaws," just as millions of Americans did in defying
Prohibition in the 1920s.
Yes, smoke Camels and you,
too, can be as cool as Roaring '20s flapper by rebelling against repressive
orthodoxy. And if you're not sure that you're really as hip as those
scofflaws of yore, Camel is helpfully offering a special tie-in flavor
called Back Alley Blend to give you that added fillip of semi-criminality.
The campaign got underway
with a full-page ad in the June/July issue of Details magazine. "Not
since the '20s has it been so easy to live so large," said the ad text
above a photo of a flapper smoking a Camel through a cigarette holder.
The metal lid on Camel's Back Alley Blend drives home the deviant point.
Ad copy on the inside of the lid describes Back Alley Blend's flavor as
"enjoyed by bootleggers and socialites."
Not so long ago, the tobacco
companies used Prohibition as the boogeyman. Anti-smoking forces
are "seeking a return to Prohibition in America," then RJ Reynolds chairman
James Johnston warned a congressional committee in 1994. "The American
public overwhelmingly opposes prohibition, regardless of whether it comes
through the front door or sneaks in through the back door," Johnston said.
"So let's be clear that back-door prohibition is prohibition nonetheless."
Big tobacco has gone from
attacking Prohibition as anti-American to using it as a marketing ploy.
RJ Reynolds, you've come a long way, baby.
Visit http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/07/business/media/07adco.html
for further information and pictures.
-- END --
|
Issue #345, 7/9/04
Editorial: Time for Congress to Get Real |
In the Wake of Blakely: Federal Sentencing Chaos as Defense Attorneys, Prosecutors, Lawmakers Ponder How to Respond |
House Votes Down Medical Marijuana Bill -- Election Year Politics, Organized Opposition Cited |
International AIDS Conference Puts Focus on Thai War on Drugs |
Making it Official: More Initiatives Move Toward November Ballot |
ALERT: "Thank or Spank" Your Congressman for This Week's Medical Marijuana Vote |
Newsbrief: Rep. Ron Paul Brings Pain Doctor Prosecution Issue to House |
Newsbrief: US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Rejects DEA Motion for New Hemp Hearing |
Newsbrief: Kansas Supreme Court Says Cut Methamphetamine Sentences |
Newsbrief: Tommy Chong Walks Out of Prison |
Newsbrief: Iranians Protest US, UK Blind Eye to Afghan Opium Crop |
Newsbrief: United Arab Emirates Ponders First Step Toward Harm Reduction |
Newsbrief: Head of National Drug Intelligence Center Fired |
Newsbrief: Prohibition as a Marketing Tool -- Camel Ad Campaign Touts "Forbidden Fruit" Appeal |
Newsbrief: This Week's Corrupt Cops Story |
Newsbrief: California Prisons "Dysfunctional," State Report Concludes |
Movie Opening: Maria Full of Grace |
Media Scan: New CSDP Ad -- Richard Paey and Rush Limbaugh |
This Week in History |
Psilocybin Cancer Research Study Still Seeking Participants |
The Reformer's Calendar
|
This issue -- main page
This issue -- single-file printer version
Drug War Chronicle -- main page
Chronicle archives
|
PERMISSION to reprint or
redistribute any or all of the contents of Drug War Chronicle (formerly The Week Online with DRCNet is hereby
granted. We ask that any use of these materials include proper credit and,
where appropriate, a link to one or more of our web sites. If your
publication customarily pays for publication, DRCNet requests checks
payable to the organization. If your publication does not pay for
materials, you are free to use the materials gratis. In all cases, we
request notification for our records, including physical copies where
material has appeared in print. Contact: StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network,
P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 293-8340 (voice), (202)
293-8344 (fax), e-mail [email protected]. Thank
you.
Articles of a purely
educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of the DRCNet
Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
|
