[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 41 (Wednesday, April 9, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2873-S2874]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     THE FTC CASE AGAINST JOE CAMEL

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, yesterday I introduced the Tobacco 
Disclosure and Warning Act. This bill will require tobacco companies to 
disclose the ingredients, including the carcinogens, that exist in 
cigarettes. Cigarettes are the only consumable product in America 
today, the only one, whose ingredients are not disclosed. All kinds of 
food products list all of the ingredients very specifically. I think it 
is wrong. The public should know what is in the cigarettes. We work 
hard and invest a lot of resources to stop our kids from doing things 
like eating lead-based paint or drinking water with lead. We should not 
let them smoke it.
  This bill would also require large, blunt and centrally placed health 
warnings on cigarette packs of the types used in other countries. I 
look at this one, which is done in Canada. Very clearly, on the black 
portion here, it says, ``Smoking can kill you.'' It is also printed in 
French to make sure that people understand the threat to their health 
when they take up smoking.
  I want to particularly focus on the issue, now, of tobacco 
advertising and direct it towards the industry's use of Joe Camel. As 
you know, the Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction over the 
fairness and truthfulness of advertising. Today, I am sending a letter 
to the Chairman of the FTC, Robert Pitofsky, encouraging the Commission 
to bring a case against R.J. Reynolds for unfair advertising because of 
its portrayal of Joe Camel in its advertising campaign. I am joined by 
Senators Durbin, Kennedy, Harkin, Wellstone, Wyden and Murray.
  I ask unanimous consent the letter be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the letter was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                                  U.S. Senate,

                                    Washington, DC, April 9, 1997.
     Hon. Robert Pitofsky,
     Chairman Federal Trade Commission,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Chairman Pitofsky: We are writing to you today to 
     encourage you to reopen an unfair advertising case against 
     the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company for marketing cigarettes to 
     children. The company's Joe Camel campaign is an outrageous 
     attempt to attract children to their product--a product that 
     is illegal for children to purchase.
       Numerous new facts have been uncovered about the tobacco 
     industry's marketing efforts since the Commission's 1994 
     decision not to bring such a case against R.J. Reynolds. The 
     most recent development was the Liggett Group's admission 
     that the tobacco industry does in fact target children in its 
     marketing efforts.
       In addition, the Food and Drug Administration has collected 
     R.J. Reynolds documents that evidence a company policy to 
     appeal to ``presmokers'' and ``learners'' ages 14 to 18. A 
     1993 company study indicated that 86% of children age 10 to 
     17 recognized the image of Joe Camel, and 95% of those 
     children knew that Joe Camel sold cigarettes. Since Joe Camel 
     was introduced, Camel brand's youth market share has jumped 
     from less than 3 percent to as high as 16 percent.
       For these reasons, we believe it is time for the FTC to 
     step in to protect our nation's children from a product that 
     kills one-third of its users. While tobacco companies have a 
     right to advertise their product to adults, the peddling of 
     illegal drugs to children cannot be tolerated.
           Sincerely,
     Frank R. Lautenberg,
     Richard J. Durbin,
     Paul Wellstone,
     Edward M. Kennedy,
     Ron Wyden,
     Tom Harkin,
     Patty Murray.

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, the letter simply asks the Chairman of 
the FTC to revisit this case, because we believe that R.J. Reynolds is 
intentionally advertising a product to children which is illegal to 
sell to them. In 1994, the FTC voted 3 to 2 against bringing such a 
case against R.J. Reynolds. At that time, the Commission cited a lack 
of evidence. But since then, dramatic new evidence, new material has 
become public. Last year, 67 Members of the House wrote a letter asking 
the FTC to reopen the investigation. The FTC staff has recommended that 
the Chairman do just that, and he will be making a decision over the 
coming weeks.
  Mr. President, Joe Camel is a prime example of advertising that ought 
to be stopped. If Joe Camel were real and smoked as much as he does in 
his ads, he would be a dead camel. He would have bit the dust from 
emphysema, lung cancer, and heart disease.
  The R.J. Reynolds company promotes the line of cigarettes with a 
cartoon character that is named ``Joe Camel.'' This character is seen 
in the advertisements promoting a ``cool'' and ``smooth'' image. He is 
often seen holding a cigarette out to the viewer of the ad. A picture I 
noticed most recently is he is in a beach chair someplace where the 
sand is nice and white and fresh, and he is sitting there.
  Why would a tobacco company use a cartoon character to market its 
product? It does not seem like a cartoon is the best way to appeal to 
adult smokers. R.J. Reynolds claims it is marketing to adults with Joe 
Camel. It is hard to believe.
  An article published in the Journal of the American Medical 
Association revealed that 6-year-olds--6-year-olds--were as familiar 
with Joe Camel as they were with Mickey Mouse. The Disney company has 
spent decades and a great deal of effort promoting Mickey Mouse, and if 
R.J. Reynolds is not marketing to kids, then it has pulled off perhaps 
the most successful accidental promotional job in mass media history.
  I want to be clear, I do not think that children are being drawn to 
Joe Camel

[[Page S2874]]

by accident. The truth is that R.J. Reynolds is marketing its deadly 
product to children.
  In preparation for its rule designed to decrease teenage smoking, the 
Food and Drug Administration collected documents that show that R.J. 
Reynolds targeted what it calls presmokers, identified as children as 
young as 14. A 1993 R.J. Reynolds document boasted that 86 percent of 
children age 10 to 17 recognize the image of Joe Camel and 95 percent 
of them knew Joe Camel sold cigarettes.
  The most telling statistic is that since Joe Camel was introduced, 
Camel's share of the youth cigarette market has jumped from 3 percent 
to as high as 16 percent. Despite this criticism, R.J. Reynolds 
recently decided to engage in even more egregious behavior. It is now 
targeting kids based not only on age but race as well.
  Mr. President, despite the rising rates of teenage smoking overall, 
African-American children have bucked the trend. How has the tobacco 
industry responded? It seems that R.J. Reynolds has decided that since 
its current marketing tactics are not working, it ought to target 
specific groups of children, particularly African-American children. 
Not only have they targeted those children, but it is promoting a line 
of camels even more deadly than its standard cigarettes.
  Recently, R.J. Reynolds introduced a product called Camel Menthols. 
Menthols are a particularly dangerous type of cigarette. The menthol 
cools the smoke so that it can be ingested deeper into the lungs. 
Unfortunately, menthols are very popular in the African-American adult 
community. Critics are now charging that this line of Camel Menthols is 
designed specifically to appeal to African-American teens. In fact, it 
has been shown that R.J. Reynolds has revamped the Joe Camel image for 
Camel Menthols ads to make the character more appealing to African-
American teenagers.
  I consider R.J. Reynolds' corporate behavior inappropriate, and I 
hope that the FTC will take steps to end this advertising aimed at our 
kids, or any advertising aimed at our kids, because no parent, no 
guardian in good conscience could say to a child, ``Listen, here's some 
lead, here's some benzene, here's some arsenic, here's some chromium. 
If you feel like having a little bit of it, take it.'' Your conscience 
would never permit it, and the law would probably incarcerate you for 
endangering the health of a child. But here we have this advertising of 
a product that carries all of these elements in them.
  I have asked in this bill that was introduced yesterday to make sure 
all 43 carcinogens that are used in tobacco products are clearly 
identified and that people are conscious of the fact that smoking may 
taste good, but once they try it, they live with it for as short a 
period as their life will be.

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