Cartoon Killer or One Cool Camel?

You may remember Joe Camel from the Camel cigarette advertising campaigns dating from 1987 to 1997. After all, he is indisputably the most famous camel to have never lived (probably tops among the breathing variety as well, unless you can name a few off the top of your head). But while all his friends seemed to agree Joe Camel was pretty much the coolest guy around, how much do you really know about Joe Camel?Joe Camel was first caricatured in 1974 by British artist Billy Coulton, later used in a French ad campaign running internationally throughout the late 70′s. Though his initial purpose was not to sell cigarettes, the inspiration for the original Joe Camel drawing was in fact a carton of Camel smokes. The camel on the carton was commonly known as “Old Joe” around the company, so to commemorate its 75^th anniversary of Old Joe, the new Joe Camel advertising campaign was introduced in the United States in 1987. To say the least, Joe Camel was a raging success. While the alleged intended audience was, of course, adult smokers who currently chose other brands, Joe Camel was wildly popular among teens not of legal smoking age, thus the image quickly became a nationwide controversy. According to some estimates, before Joe Camel’s inception, Camel cigarettes controlled only 0.5 of the underage smoking market. Camel’s market share skyrocketed in the first few years with Joe Camel as the face of the company, rising to nearly 33 in just 4 years.It’s completely understandable why anyone in their teens, or of legal age for that matter, mind find Joe Camel appealing. After all, between his numerous trips to Vegas among many other seemingly fantastic vacation destinations, his mastery of all hobbies manly from motorcycles to billiards and his constant accompaniment of attractive young females, who wouldn’t want to hang out with the world’s hairiest jetsetter? The ‘Brown Bond’ disappeared in 1997, however, as cigarette ads containing cartoons and humans were declared illegal, joining the Marlboro Man in early retirement.