The illustrator of the famous “Joe Camel” ad campaign that advertised R.J. Reynolds cigarettes thinks that the trendy ad campaign for JUUL e-cigarettes is much worse.
“Just from a cursory overview with the weight of social media and getting a sense of the younger generation, to me the Juul [marketing] seems more egregious,” illustrator Jerry Lofaro told Yahoo Finance on Tuesday. “To me that really captures more of the essence of a young person’s mind than a cartoon character like Joe Camel ever could.”
The “Joe Camel” ad campaign that debuted in 1988 was meant to appeal to kids, according to a research group associated with Stanford University that studies tobacco advertising.
“Internal documents reveal that young people were further targeted with the ads through appropriation of youth slang,” the researchers wrote.
JUUL is facing increased scrutiny from the Food and Drug Administration regarding its marketing to teens and adolescents. The e-cigarette giant features models using JUUL in advertisements peppered around social media.
JUUL products are among the most popular among teens in part because they resemble a USB drive more than an e-cigarette, making them harder for parents and teachers to detect.
The FDA raided JUUL’s offices a few months ago to seize documents surrounding its sales and marketing practices.
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has said that he could ban e-cigarette sales in convenience stores if the major manufacturers of e-cigarettes don’t create a plan to curb e-cigarette use among minors.
