Tobacco.org

• A Different Camel Is Back in the Glossies 

Now the Camel logo is back prominently in major glossies, including Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated and Maxim -- but not to advertise cigarettes. R. J. Reynolds is advertising Camel Snus, a tobacco packet that wedges in the upper lip and, unlike chewing tobacco, is promoted as "spitless" because low salt content spares users the unpleasantness of public expectoration. Although snus is popular in Sweden, this is the first time it has been marketed in the United States by a major American tobacco company.

The campaign, by Quaker City Mercantile in Philadelphia, pitches Camel Snus (pronounced snoose) as a way around smoking bans. The ads cater to specific magazine audiences, with a recent issue of Rolling Stone promoting snus as "sweaty outdoor festival friendly" and one in Sports Illustrated declaring it "extra inning friendly." Others call snus "your flight just got canceled friendly," "ridiculously long conference call friendly" and "fancy hotel friendly."

David Howard, an R. J. Reynolds spokesman, said that the company had not reversed its magazine policy, but that this was a Camel of another color.

"We do not advertise cigarettes in print right now and have not done that for a couple years, but Camel Snus is not a cigarette," Mr. Howard said. "This is a different product, and if ultimately you want your adult tobacco consumers to be aware of the product and its attributes, clearly you have to advertise." . . .

But the way Camel Snus is marketed might be "harm increasing if people delay quitting because of them," Dr. Henningfield said.

Smoking prohibitions prompt more smokers to quit, so industry watchdogs are leery of a campaign that flaunts circumventing bans.

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We do not advertise cigarettes in print right now and have not done that for a couple years, but Camel Snus is not a cigarette. This is a different product, and if ultimately you want your adult tobacco consumers to be aware of the product and its attributes, clearly you have to advertise.
David Howard, an R. J. Reynolds spokesman.

Camel clearly is not marketing snus as a replacement product -- it's a complementary product. [With dual use] you have two forms of nicotine addiction, and if that's the future, then we have a real problem, because that's going to be very difficult to treat.
Gregory N. Connolly, a professor and tobacco researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health, on "dual users."