Make Joe Camel the Next Dodo

If the Federal Trade Commission has its way, Joe Camel will soon be as extinct as the dinosaur and the dodo. And future generations will be grateful.

Reversing a decision it made in 1994, the FTC now charges that R.J. Reynolds, the maker of Camel cigarettes, has used the Joe Camel character in advertising that deliberately targets children. The complaint is based on information that was unavailable to the regulatory agency when it voted three years ago not to sue RJR, the nation’s second-largest tobacco company, over its Camel campaign.

Documents provided by the Food and Drug Administration and bipartisan pressure from Congress prompted the FTC to reconsider the matter. Among the information obtained by the FDA during its lengthy investigation of tobacco’s addictive properties and its effects on health were government statistics showing that Camel’s market share among young smokers rose significantly after the Joe Camel campaign began.

Joe, the supposedly cool, sunglasses-wearing camel, appears in magazine ads and on billboards with a cigarette dangling from his lips but of course is never shown to wheeze, cough or suffer from tobacco-related coronary or pulmonary diseases. The FTC contends he is successful in inducing young people to begin smoking. An RJR survey obtained by the government showed that 86% of children ages 10 to 17 recognized Joe Camel and 95% of those youngsters knew he was peddling cigarettes. This underscores the absurdity of RJR’s claim that it is not pitching its ads to the young.

Wariness is always in order when the government seeks to regulate advertising content or otherwise acts to abridge free speech. But there are times, as the courts have recognized, when public safety imperatives deservedly take precedence over 1st Amendment rights. RJR argues that Joe Camel is as harmless a character as the Energizer Bunny. Wrong. The batteries the bunny is selling don’t give people--beginning almost always in their teenage years--a habit that all but guarantees chronic illness and premature death. The FTC wants an order barring RJR from using Joe Camel in ads that are accessible to children, which means most ads, and it wants RJR to fund an anti-smoking education campaign directed at children. That would be a good start.