The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company this year is celebrating the 100th birthday of its Camel cigarettes. But a century of death and disease is nothing to celebrate
- Cigarette smoking is the No. 1 cause of preventable death in the U.S. It kills 443,000 Americans and costs $96 billion in health care bills each year.
- 90 percent of adult smokers began at or before age 18, and another 3,500 U.S. kids smoke their first cigarette each day.
- Camel has a long history of marketing cigarettes to kids and getting in legal trouble for it. Camel even targeted kids with a cartoon character, Joe Camel.
- Camel is one of the three most popular cigarette brands among youth.
Help us spread the word that Camel’s 100th birthday is no reason to celebrate by sharing an unhappy birthday card to Camel. By sharing a card, you can help fight Big Tobacco and expose Camel s deadly legacy.
- Fact Sheet Camel’s history of marketing to kids
- Slide Show Camel cigarettes 100 years of selling death
Camel cigarette collectables
wildly, and some items now considered collectibles did not originate within that catalog. In recent years, Camel has not produced many collectible type items. Many products released with the Camel branding were produced specifically for the Camel Cash catalog. Camel Cash was formerly a method of Camel customers to get small amounts of exchangeable currency like items with each package, and subsequently exchange those items for specific items offered in the catalog. The process functioned much like similar exchange programs worked mail in the Camel Cash plus the designated shipping and handling expense, and receive the product in question. Individual amount of Camel Cash on packages of Camel product varied with the years. Camel Cash items are now mostly considered collectibles, owing to the fact that Camel Cash was discontinued in early 2007. Items featuring the likeness of Joe Camel are further rare after many lawsuits centered around Joe Camel allegedly being used to target children with a pro smoking message, the company discontinued use of the mascot in 1997. Joe Camel items began appearing in 1987 and the Joe Camel image was so heavily featured in advertisements and popular items that, until discontinuation, Joe Camel was one of the most well known cartoon characters to children of the time. Among the more traditional items Camel released that later reached collectible status were several mugs and specialty ashtrays. A line of collectible billiards related items also heavily featured images of Joe Camel and the Camel logo in general. or