Talk:Joe Camel

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Joe Camel originated in the 50's? Also, Old Joe is the mostly-natural camel shown on the cigarette packs since the brand was started around world war one. 24.93.213.107 05:08, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Someone needs to add a reference to the Jokamel parody from TV Funhouse. --71.112.183.85 07:05, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

Until recently (I would say 2004), a "funny" kids-friendly plush camel had been featured on Camel print commercials throughout Germany. The ads were largely plain in-your-face humour (as, for example, this plush camel falling down a skyscraper, with the underline "Never throw your Camels out of the window"). As this plushie is a resemblance of "Joe Camel" in my eyes, I would say the campaign wasn't over as of 10 July 1997 (as the article says) - this would be more the date of the ban of Joe Camel on the US market. It was on at least until 2004 - only taking a look at the German market!

Take a look at http://www.guenther-net.de/camels/camelbilder1.html The ads for the German market were made by the advertising agency McCann-Erickson.

--Abdull 21:42, 22 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Sections

Why is there an subsection of the "History" section of this article entitled "Resemblance to male genitalia"? Couldn't that little tidbit be filed under something else? Djcartwright 20:23, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

I deleted it because it's non-notable. I don't think very many people really believe it (though it might be a somewhat popular joke). - furrykef (Talk at me) 08:56, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Joe Camel Matchbook Series, etc.

1. During the 90's an extensive series of matchbooks appeared, published by D. D. Bean advertising company, each containing a joke about Joe Camel, his friends in the rock band (all wearing sunglasses), etc. You might say he was the archetypical Joke Animal (yuk yuk). I remember collecting the Fleers bubble gum comics (Pud et al.) when I was 9 years old and too cheap to buy the gum. Point is, children avidly collect anything that has a joke on it.

Well, here kids were exposed to a veritable anthology of cigaret advertising, but I think there was a second agenda-- the tobacco companies prefer that kids mess around with matches because more than lighters they promote the cigaret (that's the main thing-- get them to tolerate hotburning overdose, fire hazard, "matches up" with 20 to a pack etc.). Besides, matches make it harder to use an anti-overdose utensil-- that's what they're really afraid of. Keeping safe but unprofitable smoking equipment off the market is also behind their support for Partnership for a Drug Free America and its ads against cannabis.

2. About 1996 (check source evidence on this) Reynolds introduced CAMEL WIDES-- a new fatter cigaret building on the Joe Camel theme ("smooth character") to suggest that somehow "wider" cigarets are "smoother". That can't be true-- wider cigarets burn hotter-- but their research evidently convinced them children would fall for it. I think they hoped someday to move more smokers toward the wider cigaret-- stronger impact, more addictive. Anyway, this died in 1997 with the Joe Camel promotion under litigation pressures.

3. Surprise! In 2007, Camel ("Big, Fat and Delicious") and Kool ("Smoother") are again pushing fat cigarets-- in weekly papers read by many teenagers such as Chicago Reader.

4. You'd think any halfway rational smoker would prefer narrow cigarets-- less hot-burning, less health damage, etc. So the companies all marketed them, but on the premise that they were just for women ("Slimmer than the fat cigarettes men smoke!") so that men and boys would be scared to be seen using such a product lest they be teased for being effeminate.

5. (Encore). From 1913 (when Camels were introduced) to 1918 cigaret consumption doubled in the U.S. (I saw that somewhere, haven't found source yet.) Oh yes, something known as World War I ran from 1914 to 1918. Soldiers in the trench found cigarets convenient-- what if you lost your pipe, etc. The public was deluged with propaganda glorifying everything soldierly (including guess what). The revered Eleanor Roosevelt, whose husband was Undersecretary of the Navy, appeared in hospitals giving free cigarets to the wounded Navy boys (Joseph P. Lash, <Eleanor and Franklin>, l972?).Tokerdesigner 22:40, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

• sniff sniff* I smell bias. Take it elsewhere. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.99.210.12 (talk) 09:53, 20 March 2008 (UTC)