Tobacco Documents Online

0 The Associated Press The materials in the AP file were compiled by The Associated Press. These materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The Associated Press. November 10, 1998 Tuesday, AM cycle SECTION: Business News LENGTH: 584 words HEADLINE: FTC judge considers effects of Joe Camel advertising BYLINE: By CASSANDRA BURRELL, Associated Press Writer DATELINE: WASHINGTON BODY: , A tune driven by a bluesy harmonica rang out at the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday as testimony began in the trial of Joe Camel, the cartoon character accused of enticing minors to smoke. Government lawyers spent hours showing an administrative law judge just how prevalent R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.'s Joe Camel advertising campaign was, with dozens of items stamped with the cartoon. Included among key chains, cigarette lighters, posters, playing cards, magazine ads, ashtrays, pins and store displays was a cassette featuring "Meet the Hard Pack," one of several songs purportedly performed by a four-camel band called the Hard Pack. Judge James T. Timony laughed as a gravelly voice sang, "Ain't no doubt the Hard Pack sure is tough," after the cassette was slipped into a boom box government lawyers took to an FTC hearing room. R.J. Reynolds dropped Joe Camel from its domestic advertising campaigns more than a year ago after the commission filed its legal complaint, but the FTC continues to press its case to make sure the popular camel and his buddies remain in retirement. They also are asking for R.J. Reynolds to pay for an anti-smoking media campaign that • would discourage children and teen-agers from smoking.

The FTC is arguing that Camel cigarette sales to minors spiked after the introduction of Joe Camel in 1988, increasing more dramatically than sales to adults. Government lawyers allege the use of the character was an unfair trade practice on grounds it attracted children and teen-agers. R.J. Reynolds contends that Joe Camel was a sucessful marketing campaign but was not intended to recruit minors as smokers. The company has said Joe Camel did not play a significant role in the decisions young people have made to begin smoking. The Joe Camel items were taken to the hearing by Dr. John Slade, a Brunswick, N.J., doctor specializing in addiction. He began collecting examples of tobacco advertising in 1983 after he began noticing it on billboards while driving to and from work. Many of the items find their way into the hands of children, Slade said after the hearing. Among Slade's items were magazine ads of colorful fantasy scenes featuring a seemingly larger-than-life Joe Camel starting intently at the viewer as if to draw him or her into the picture, Slade said. Beautiful women often are seen in the background, either looking at the viewer or at Joe. Some show Joe in sunglasses or dressed in a tuxedo "being very much the dapper man about town," Slade said. One ad showed Joe shooting pool, another steering a boat. Slade said he began photographing billboards as the ads changed and eventually started spending thousands of dollars a year buying T-shirts, caps, lighters, magazines, mugs and other items stamped with tobacco advertising. In recent years, however, he has bought promotional items with money from foundation grants. Slade, a former smoker, also signed forms with his own name and the names of friends, relatives and fictional people in order to get on tobacco company mailing lists, he said. "I realized as I looked at the tobacco problem that advertising was a big part of the problem," Slade told the judge. "Joe Camel materials are more abundant in my collection than other brands because there has been more of an outpouring of those items." During cross-examination, Reynolds attorney John B. Williams pointed out that Slade could have violated federal law by filling out forms with false names and information. LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: November 10, 1998 0

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