Camel No. 9 Marketing Ploy Entices Teen Girls and Women to Smoke

According to information obtained on www.tobaccofreekids.org, tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds Co. is using a subtle marketing technique to entice teen girls and young women to smoke. The advertising comes decorated much the way a box of expensive designer cologne would, with a black shiny box trimmed in the feminine colors of hot pink or teal and a flowery design. The advertising on the box of cigarettes may say "Light and Luscious", but it may as well say "Loathsome and Lethal". The campaign is being used to convince teen girls and young women that buying and smoking Camel No.9s is a hot fashion statement. The ploy may be working and is devastating to women's health.

The fancy ads for the new cigarette produced by the R.J.Reynolds Tobacco Company are appearing in fashion magazines that are geared towards young females. The October issue of Glamour Magazine features a two page spread. One side of the ad shows a slinky designer dress, stiletto heels and all the other accessories that a woman needs to feel beautiful for a night on the town. The other side shows nothing more than a plain black back round with floral designs and two of the current cigarette boxes trimmed with the teal and hot pink highlights. The ads are also being shown in Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, In Style, and Glamour. All are magazines which are geared towards teenage girls and young women.

Popular T.V. host and fashion model Tyra Banks, was recently recognized by "Tobacco Free Kids", for using the premiere show this season of her hit show "America's Next Top Model", to feature a photo shoot depicting the harmful effects of smoking.

The marketing campaign also uses many promotional giveaways appealing to the younger female population using such products as berry flavored lip balm, cell phone jewelry, mini purses, and wrist bands all trimmed in hot pink or teal. One Oregon newspaper claimed that the R.J. Reynolds Co. used to use the "Joe Camel" character to appeal to kids, and now they are using "Barbie Camel" instead.

This latest marketing ploy to be used with the Camel No.9 cigarettes, is the latest to target women by large tobacco companies. The tobacco industry has targeted women since back in the 1920s. In the 1960s, The Philip Morris Co. introduced the first brand specifically aimed at women." Virginia Slims" were introduced by using subtle colored packaging and quotes like "You've coma a long way baby", and "It's a woman thing", and "Find your voice". The campaigns seemed to use smoking as a way for women to feel more sophisticated, independent and beautiful. These things seem to use the social pressures that many young women face in our society. The tobacco companies continuously use words in it's advertising such as "light" and "low tar", thus implying that cigarette smoking with these brands, is a safer option for women.

More than 178,000 women die each year from tobacco related diseases.

Since 1987 lung cancer has passed breast cancer as a leading cause of death in women.

Heart disease is the overall leading cause of womens death and smoking accounts for 1 in 5 of those deaths.

23% of all girls in high school smoke and 18.1% of women currently smoke.

Sources used in this article are as follows: www.tobaccofreekids.org/reports/women