The Camel Logo is Back

Some of you may know the long and controversial history of the Joe Camel logo. The main criticism has been that researchers discovered that the Joe Camel character is particularly appealing to children. In fact, one study found that 6-year-old children were more familiar with Joe Camel than Mickey Mouse! Additionally, with the introduction of the Joe Camel character, Camel quickly became a very dominant brand among teenage smokers--with some studies reporting up to 30% saturation. (Of course the #1 brand among teens is Marlboro.)

In the late 1990s Camel voluntarily agreed to remove the Joe Camel character and its logo from all packaging. This was viewed as a conciliatory gesture as part of a massive Tobacco Settlement with the US government. So Joe Camel was no more.

Of course, we could have a lengthy discussion about the phallic design of Joe Camel too. But that's for another class perhaps. . . .

But now the New York Times reports that the Camel logo (although not Joe Camel) has returned on the box of a new product--Camel snus (pronounced "snoose")--a type of package that contains tobacco that you suck on, but since the tobacco is all self-contained in the packet there is not spitting involved like chewing tobacco.

This is an interesting example of tobacco companies trying to take back their logo, as well as a marketing a product that may be deemed controversial by many. The snus are are already popular in some European countries--including Sweden--but this is the first time it is being sold in the US.

Of course, as the number of cigarette smokers decrease, tobacco companies will need to continue making money with other products like these.

In terms of advertising, the ads for the new snus seem to be widely targeted but include a focus on young adults--in Rolling Stone the ads say that this is "sweaty outdoor festival friendly"--i.e., when you can't smoke, pop one of these in your mouth.

Would you try one of these new snus?