Ministers Wage War On Menthol Joe

Do you remember the cigarette Uptown? Chances are, you’ve never heard of one, even if you’re a smoker.

Seven years ago, the black community in Philadelphia forced R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. to withdraw a planned test-marketing of the cigarette, which RJR had designed to appeal to blacks.

Now the African American community is at it again, and once again Joe Camel, the cartoon character that saved a brand and angered a nation, is taking a bashing.

The group that sent Uptown out of town has vowed to do the same for Camel Menthols. The Camel brand is used on a wide range of cigarettes, but more than three decades have passed since RJR last marketed a menthol version of Camels.

Black religious leaders from Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston are spearheading the national crusade against Camel Menthols with as much gusto as they displayed last year in chastising Texaco (which hurriedly settled a bias lawsuit after shocking tape recordings were publicized).

Camel Menthol, introduced nationally on Jan. 1, uses the Joe Camel cartoon figure in its advertising - the same controversial dromedary that’s been the icon for regular Camel, America’s seventh-largest cigarette brand.

Fewer than one in four white smokers prefers menthol cigarettes, but nearly 80 percent of African American smokers choose menthols as their cigarettes.

After the fight over Uptown, the black community targeted - and snuffed out - another menthol cigarette, dubbed X, which was being marketed in Boston in 1995.

The Rev. Jesse W. Brown Jr., one of the leaders who emerged from the Coalition Against Uptown Cigarettes in Philadelphia, calls RJR’s latest marketing push “an outrage.”

“The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. is targeting black youth for death with Camel Menthols the same way that the company targeted white youth for death when they introduced the cartoon figure Smooth Joe in 1988 to promote Camel cigarettes,” Brown says.

The group is asking stores to not stock Camel Menthols, asking the owners of magazines, newspapers and billboards to not accept advertising for the brand and asking “communities of color” to keep this camel’s nose out of their tents.

“Our slogan is, ‘Say No To Menthol Joe,”’ says Brown, a member of the National Association of African Americans for Positive Imagery. The group is taking the lead in organizing this national crusade.

Joe Camel is at the center of growing debates about freedom of advertising expression and how to protect young, impressionable children and keep them from smoking.

A recent USA Today survey found that while 98 percent of teens admit to being familiar with Joe Camel, the hip style of the shades-wearing dromedary isn’t persuading them to buy his product.

Fewer than 20 percent of those surveyed say Joe Camel makes them want to try a Camel. In fact, teens nationwide say their top pick of a cigarette is Philip Morris Co.’s Marlboro, although they say they aren’t as impressed by its advertising.

Fewer than 10 percent say they are in any way influenced by the ads, according to the study conducted by Gordon S. Black Corp., a polling firm.

President Clinton has dismissed the teens’ assessment.

“People don’t think they are affected by the ads, but we know if the ads didn’t work, the tobacco companies would not spend billions of dollars every year to market their products,” he has said.

Last summer his administration, hoping to cut teen smoking in half within seven years, enacted rules to limit how and where cigarettes can be advertised.

These rules would remove Joe, his cronies the “wide guys” Max and Ray, a female camel and members of “the hard pack” from billboards within 1,000 feet of schools.

Advertising agencies and the tobacco companies challenged the rules in court.

Tobacco ads were removed from U.S. television in the early 1970s. While smoking is down overall, studies suggest it’s up among children.

Nine out of 10 new smokers in this country are teens or younger, according to Scott Ballin, American Heart Association vice president.

Maura Ellis, a spokeswoman for R.J. Reynolds, concedes that children recognize Camel’s slick mascot. But she argues that’s because “he’s been the poster child of almost every anti-smoking campaign.”

The Camel brand was in a free fall before the whimsical beast made its U.S. debut in 1988. He first appeared in France in 1974, albeit briefly, after British illustrator Nicholas Price drew a new version of the camel that has adorned packs since 1913.

Joe surfaced in the U.S. to help shake up the image of Camel, which was perceived as a brand for old fogies.

In the four years before April 1993 (when Philip Morris shook up the cigarette industry by slashing prices), Camel and Lorillard Inc.’s Newport, another menthol cigarette, were the only full-priced brands not losing share.

As the introduction of Camel Menthols underscores, the selling of cigarettes remains a hot battleground. Meanwhile, RJR has hedged its bets on the camel corral.

While Smooth Joe has been attracting potshots, the company has quietly had some success with Red Kamel and a menthol version called RedKamel Menthe.

They come in 1920s-era packaging to distinguish them from - and not cannibalize - the Camel brand.

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