R.J. Reynolds has successfully used the appearance of his cigarettes to attract female smokers to buy his product while knowing lung cancer is the leading cause in female deaths; Reynolds is successfully leading women into harm by his choice of advertisement. Using the colors “hot-pink fuchsia” and “minty-green teal,” Reynolds successfully attracts a 6-year-old to the cigarette box. Reynolds claims to be targeting already smokers, but it seems hard to believe a 40-year-old woman is going to switch brands for a “cuter” package.
Reynolds launched his cigarettes in February of 2007 with a plan of aggressive marketing. Reynolds is holding elaborate launch parties in bars and clubs around the country. He promotes these launch parties as a girls’ night out. These late-night, loud, and eventful parties do not attract everyday business women. They are attracting young college students who are up for the party. At these parties, along with a night of drinking and dancing, the women can sample cigarettes, get massages, have their hair styled and take home gift bags that include make-up and jewelry. Reynolds also gives away coupons and sample packs at bars nationwide on a regular basis. Reynolds has taken a bar full of women, when about only ½ are daily smokers, and turned it into a nicotine classroom to gain full-time smokers in the future (Adam Hochberg).
Reynolds argues that he is not targeting young non-smokers, but his advertising says otherwise. Along with promotional parties, Reynolds also has an ad in all the magazines that young girls age 13-26 read. The ad is found in 11 top magazines for women, such as Vogue, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, and InStyle (Medical News Today). Reynolds ad is not exactly what we call a normal ad either, it is a thick, shiny, cardboard paper which you cannot help but flip to when turning the pages. This ad is made to stand out to these young readers. It attracts them, not because of what he is selling, but how he is selling it. These magazines should not carry his advertisements in their magazines knowing that young women and teens will be exposed to them.
Reynolds takes his advertising even farther by sending pink and teal postcards to millions of young adults every year. Promotional giveaways for a cigarette have never been more appealing. Reynolds gives away items such as berry lip balm, cell phone jewelry, cute little purses, wristbands, etc. Everything of course is hot pink (Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids). These items are not exactly what most grown women want to take home. These are items they would give to their 11-year-old daughter. How could Reynolds argue he is not trying to attract young adults into smoking?
A common known product of Reynolds is Camel No. 9. Camel No. 9’s name sounds familiar doesn’t it? It’s very similar to Channel’s brand Channel No. 19, a high end fragrance for women. The name Camel No. 9 also is supposed to resemble “cloud nine” or “dressed to the nines” according to Reynolds. He is taking a lethal product and making it appear as if it will help you feel better by using the slogan “light and luscious.” Reynolds also uses campaign’s that sarcastically compare smoking with independence, sophistication and beauty. These are all unique social pressures that women face (Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids). He is taking real emotions and problems that women face every day and making a mockery of them to promote his cigarettes. All the women who appear in Reynolds ads are confident, beautiful, independent women, everything a teenager is striving to become. These slogans and ads are not attracting already smokers; they are attracting the teen and college students who haven’t begun to smoke, but are vulnerable to this message of “sophisticated chic.”
When going through the stages of growing up, young teens are constantly faced with peer pressure and tough decisions every day. By allowing these tobacco companies to advertise in teen magazines and use tactics designed to capture young teens attention, everyone is just making teens struggle into the world even harder. These ads are tapping into the minds of these young teens across the country regardless of what Reynolds claims to be the truth behind Camel No. 9 Cigarettes. When Reynolds uses ads, such as the ones he uses for Camel No. 9, that provoke and imply that smoking will put these girls on “Cloud 9” and even make them “in” or “cool,” he is attempting to entice girls to begin smoking.
Regardless of what teachers and parents say, when going through teen years, all teenagers think about is what their peers will think of them. What is cool to their role models becomes cool to them. Knowing this information, why would anyone with a heart promote smoking as something that will make these young women cool and hip? It is immoral to try and justify Reynolds campaign for any reason.
To make matters worse, Camel No. 9 is not the first cigarette brand Reynolds has used to target women. Other brands such as Capri and Misty were made specifically for women. The Virginia Slims brand especially targets women with the marketing slogans: “You’ve come along way, Baby,” “It’s a woman thing,” and “Find your voice.” Starting in the 1970’s, women have been targeted for “light” and “low-tar” brands, which imply reduced risk even though tobacco companies knew this was false. Camel No. 9’s use the slogan “light & luscious,” implying to women that they are less lethal, while in fact they are no different than most other brands.
People like R.J. Reynolds target women in their campaign to sell cigarettes because females make up 50% of the smoking community. Consumers of the brand Camel cigarettes were 30% female. Therefore, Reynolds came up with this plan to gain more support from the female community. An R.J. Reynolds spokesperson stated that “Camel has traditionally been looked at as a male brand, so we saw a great business opportunity there to be able to communicate with adult, female smokers of competitive brands that this is a product they might enjoy.” It is clear that they have successfully communicated with females but not the one’s they claim to wanted to communicate with. They have caught the eye of young teens and adults whom are pondering the idea of smoking (Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids).
The harm of Reynolds aggressive approach to promote cigarettes goes much further beyond the fact that he is attracting young teens. Since 1987, lung cancer has been the leading cancer killer among women. More than 178,000 women die of tobacco-caused diseases each year. Along with lung cancer, heart disease is the overall leading cause of death among women, and smoking accounts for one of every five deaths from heart disease. R.J. Reynolds has ignored the facts about women’s heath just to make a quick dollar. However, America’s young women are more valuable than the revenue a tobacco company brings in each year. It is clear that Reynolds and his competition are targeting these teens at a younger age because they need to replace the smokers who die or manage to quit.
When tobacco ads were banned from the television and radio stations in 1971, it was clear that smoking was extremely lethal and should not be exposed to young children and teens. If the government felt the need to ban advertising from TV and radio’s, why should tobacco companies be able to advertise in magazines, bars, and night clubs? These are all venues in which young teens and college students can be affected. It is already hard enough for them to make the right decisions and people like Reynolds are just making it a more challenging journey.
When these ban’s on tobacco ads were developed, they came with other restrictions as well. Tobacco companies could not make ads that were targeted at minors. It is clear that Camel has crossed the line many times. It seems that they have no concern for the future of these young teens. They were forced to take down their Joe Camel cartoon character in 1997 after a decade of anti-smoking groups and the federal government had argued that the character was meant to appeal to young children (MSNBC).
Along with cute cartoon characters and catchy slogans, Reynolds Company also has another aggressive way to attract young adults into smoking. In my own personal experiences, while out at a local night club I was encountered by a member of Reynolds team. He has promoters in the bars and clubs where college students all go to have a good time. They take a photo of your ID and give you lip gloss and body spray. What they do not tell you is they work for R.J. Reynolds, and in a few days they will use your ID to mail you two packs of free KOOL cigarettes, another brand of Reynolds, a set of Dominos, and coupons to purchase more KOOL Cigarettes. If Reynolds claims he is targeting already smokers of age, why is he targeting them in college bars and night clubs? These bars are full of non-smokers and young adults.Congress is taking action against Camel No. 9 Cigarettes. 41 Members of congress have spoken out about the cause, and have asked 11 female magazines to voluntarily remove the Camel No. 9 ad from their magazines. So far, not one magazine has responded or has removed the ad from their magazines, knowing the harmful effect this is taking upon young adults (Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids).
Right now many anti-smoking groups and congress are putting together a plan to put Reynolds and other tobacco companies like his to a halt. Right now tobacco companies are taking advantage of this lack of control by doing whatever they can to make an extra dollar. Congress is trying to pass a law so that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would have major authority over all tobacco products. The FDA would have the authority to crack down on marketing that appeals to children and misleads the public and to take other steps to reduce tobacco use and save lives. This bill has the support of 41 members of congress already and still going strong (Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids).
This fight against Reynolds and other tobacco companies is critical to the success of the country. If America allows these selfish companies to continue targeting young children and teens in their campaign for smoking, America will continue to watch many young people die yearly due to lung cancer and other smoking related diseases. By allowing tobacco companies to target children and teens, Americans are giving an image that the future and well being of these children and teens are less valuable than the value of a dollar to a few already rich men. This can not happen.
