Weird History

The Rise and Fall of Joe Camel, The Cartoon Who Encouraged Kids to Smoke (2022x54)

: 06, 2022

The rise and fall of the Joe Camel cartoon is a lesson in disastrous advertising. As a marketing ploy, Joe was allegedly created to draw smokers away from Camel's competitors. The Joe Camel advertising campaigns utilized a masculine camel, or “smooth character,” to create an association between the brand’s cigarettes and the high life. However, when suspicions arose concerning the true audience impacted by these campaigns, attitudes about the smoking ads quickly shifted.